lifeasmission
exploring the mystery of life and mission as one and the same
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Archive of "love" Category
Consuming Jesus
I have been looking forward to reading Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by Paul Metzger for some time. For the sake of an alternative context and experience, I was even more excited to read the bulk of it amidst my time in Africa and its deep seeded tribalism.
In Metzger’s words, his aim is to…
confront the ways evangelical-consumer or niche-church Christianity fosters racial and economic divisions, and I wish to offer an alternative theological paradigm to the one that is often embraced in the evangelical subculture. (11)
In my words, this alternative theological paradigm comes only by way of rejecting the version of the gospel which has led to a consumer-oriented faith/church and embracing one that prophetically strikes at the very heart of that reality.
In John Perkins’ words,
The only purpose of the gospel is to reconcile people to God and to each other. A gospel that doesn’t reconcile is not a Christian gospel at all. But in America it seems as if we don’t believe that. We don’t really beleive that the proof of our discipleship is that we love one another.” (9)
I love that Perkins understands the gospel by what it does. Like love, the gospel takes on its true nature only when it is enacted.
In the beginning of the book. Metzger insightfully traces the various streams, characters, and events which have so vitally contributed to the dominant expression of Christianity in America. From here, he probes into the ways in which “the dominant structure of the evangelical church today favors, fosters, and shapes its structures around the key ingredient of individual choice…” (79) Key to understanding this tendency is his discussion of the popularization of the Homogenous Unit Principle (HUP) by Donald McGavran as a method for church growth. The remainder of the book features insightful biblical and cultural reflections, helpful examples and a sustained discussion on the vitality of Scripture and sacraments for the formation of communities of reconciliation across racial and class boundaries.
Of Scripture, Metzger says…
We must move people with God’s word on Sunday mornings to move beyond their addictions to race and class affinity groups. Authentic witness to Jesus is at stake, and we must stake our lives on it. (117)
– a quick aside here: just as the goodness of the gospel lies in what it does, so too the sermon is only good inasmuch as it results in changed lives. Don’t ever tell a preacher his or her message was good unless you are prepared to also tell them how it resulted in your changed life
And I love that he includes Marva Dawn’s words on the Lord’s Supper…
How can we share the eschatological feast if we don’t participate in displaying God’s future, in which all will be equally fed and we will all join together in universal praise? It seems to be that if we eat the body and blood of Christ in expensive churches without care for the hungry, the sacrament is no longer a foretaste of the feast to come, but a trivialized picnic to which not everyone is invited.
The end of the book is the author’s attempt to move into a discussion of partnerships amongst churches across racial and socio-economic lines. His desire is for the church to…
re-envision its understanding of communal identity in view of its communal and co-missional God as involving solidarity with society at large…. This will entail a radical break from the dominant American individualistic mindset that keeps us separate from others. It will require that we lay down our lives and die for our enemies rather than try to take back America from them. (149)
I found this to be a fantastic book. A bit narrow at places where I though the discussion (at least by way of footnotes) should have been expanded, but definitely a much needed message for the American church. I suppose the big question I am let with is how to think about local congregations that are seeking to incarnate themselves in places that are intrinsically homogeneous. If anyone wants to weigh in, please feel free, I’d enjoy the discussion.
Lots of People in Hell Have Perfect Doctrine
I was listening the other day to a message given by a teaching pastor that I respect. He was teaching on baptism, specifically whether or not aspiring members needed to share the official doctrinal stance of the church before being accepted as members. Rather than addressing that question directly, he decided to take a round-about approach.
He spoke of how important it is for the church to create a
relational culture…that is more intentionally and radically servant-like, other-oriented, thoughtful, outgoing, humble, thankful, aggressively concerned and caring, moving into the lives of others rather than moving away from them, committed to the hard work and sweet rewards of loving other people in the church.
He drew these characteristics from Colossians 3:12-17. And his point was essentially this; it is in this sort of context that wisdom flourishes and when wisdom flourishes we can hope to come to agreement about baptism.
And here was my first thought. If you have successfully created a relational culture of the sort mentioned above, who in the heck cares if you are in agreement about baptism?!
Do you see what I mean here? It’s like finding ways to mutually inspire love, affection, connection, commitment, and excitement in marriage and then, when you do, thinking that it would be a good idea to talk about how you define love. Who cares how you define it if you ‘re already both experiencing it? In fact, defining it might be the most sure-fire way to kill it as you nit-pick at nuanced differences.
I am not in the least bit saying that there is no connection whatsoever between doctrine (what we say we believe) and praxis (how we live). I am just saying that if you are living out a faithful Christian witness and example where God is glorified, your doctrinal stances matter very little.
Another problem. At another point the pastor said,
As a member of this church, you can be wrong on election, wrong on the power of sin, wrong on the extent of atonement, wrong on the power of grace, wrong on perseverance, and wrong on the sovereignty of God… [but you can still be a member]
Man, I chafe under this sort of mentality. “We, as the pastors and elders, have all the important doctrinal stuff worked out, and you don’t have to agree with us to be a member here, but this is the way it is, and we will pray for you to come around.” I can imagine nothing more inhibitory to what Chritian community is all about than this sort of mindset. How is the church supposed to listen to the Holy Spirit and fall in love with God through Scripture together if it’s a 1-way street?
I seriously pray for myself that I would always be more passioante about God than my limited ability to understand and articulate God.
Um, Jesus, No Touching
From the Associated Press:
Ohio church: No kissing, tickling allowed
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children.
The newest version of the archdiocese’s Decree on Child Protection also prohibits bear hugs, lap-sitting and piggyback rides.
But it says priests may still shake children’s hands, pat them on the back and give high-fives.
I can hear the naysayers now, “This is just good advice. It’s godly wisdom. It’s ensuring that you don’t even have the appearance of evil.” And all that.
Without launching into lengthy biblical defenses of just how mistaken those thoughts are, let me just say how sad this makes me. That the Church, the people of God called to demonstrate an alternative reality, would have to pass decrees curtailing innocent signs of love and affection.
What has become of the Body of Christ when we can’t allows its spiritual leaders to give kids piggy-back rides? Sad.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Gal. 5:1.
The Pursuit OF and IN Marriage
I am the lone single person amongst a group of folks (7 couples) trying to figure out what it means and looks like to let what it means to be the church flow from our sharing of lives together. A couple months ago we decided that we would spend a number of weeks hashing out the implications of a DVD series around the book Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs. I have really enjoyed the discussions we’ve had as a result and in the midst of one of those a while back, I had this thought…
I wonder if many people struggle in marriage because they stop pursuing the other person. We spend so much time pursuing someone for the sake of getting married to them, but once we are, we get more focused on the state of marriage than the pursuit of another. It seems to me that it’s when we enter marriage that the real pursuing ought to begin.
I am taking my cues from the extent to which marriage is a parable of the relationship which exists between Christ and the Church. I would say that we have an equally unfortunate idea about salvation – that what really matters is some beginning point and not all that follows after. Just as I would say salvation is a journey in which we pursue God and are pursued by God with ever increasing depth, I would say the same for marriage. It is in relationship that we have the truest freedom to pursue the other.
When we cease to pursue God (He never stops pursuing us by the way), we get bored with our faith and vibrancy is lost. So too in marriage, when either party stops taking initiative to pursue the other in terms of who they are becoming, marriage loses its vibrancy and excitement.
I am under no delusion that this would ever be an easy thing, but I am not sure many people look at marriage like this – at least I haven’t heard them talk about it this way. I wonder what marriages would look like if we thought of the point at which we enter them as the starting and not finish line?
Whether the journey of discipleship or the journey of marriage – what seems to matter most is the pursuit as opposed to the status.
Say Anything
I was with some friends (Bobby, Julie, Eve, Jessica, Amy, Clark, Clay, Cassandra, Joy, Olga) last night and we were discussing the best romantic comedies of all time. I of course won by letting everyone know that the best romantic comedy of all time is, as we all know, “Say Anything.” It wins for more reasons that I can possibly detail here, but chief among them is this classic scene.
Though I am thinking this one might have done the job as well – what do you think?
Social Networking and Our Desire to Be Known
In conjunction with my previous 2 posts, I was reminded of this post which I titled, but never wrote. It is something I have been thinking about for a while and maybe now see a bit better, or feel a bit stronger, what I meant when I thought it up.
There is something in each of us, in my opinion – part of what it means to be made in the image of God, that wants to be known. This is almost certainly bound up with (if not the same as) the desire to be loved. This is perhaps the great common denominator of humanity – the search and desire to have others truly know us.
Social networking, in fact, all forms of communication, are tools which, to greater or lesser extents, assist this process. We talk, chat, text, share, link, and otherwise connect to know and be known. We long for connection – for those times when, in pregnant expectation, we reach out in communication to another and find common ground, affirmation, validation, appreciation, value, and mutuality. It is a powerful and empowering thing to feel and now that you are not alone.
But for all the tools at our disposal, I don’t think many are experiencing what they long for – what they were created for. Many more, I am afraid, end up convincing themselves that their superficial avenues of connectedness are in fact, the best anyone can hope for in this day and age. Or perhaps worse yet, people are so scared of actually being known that this is where they end up living – in a shallow state of community and connectedness that allows they to remain finally hidden.
There is no substitute for authentic, face-to-face, life-on-life, warts-and-all, community and connectedness. And it’s a huge risk to go there. It takes patience, sacrifice, discipline, courage and vulnerability – all of which are rare virtues in a culture stripped of its need of those traits (one can get by today without them with relative ease).
I am increasingly convinced that one of the greatest opportunities presented to the church in Western culture today is that of cultivating communities and disciples whose character reflects these virtues. How often do we talk about creating a patient community or vulnerable disciples? If these sort of virtues really are the sort that make it possible for us to know others and be known by others – and if doing so is analogous to knowing and being known by God, then surely these ought to be among our chief concerns.
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