Out the Door

Radical reformission

I just finished reading Mark Driscoll's book, Radical Reformission.  I bought it on Monday.  To say I found it to be an interesting read would be an understatement. 

There were many highlights I'd like to mention here, but don't have the time.  So my interpretation of a few things he talks about.

1.  In order to faithfully be in mission we must see the interconnection between the gospel, the culture, and the church. The gospel + the culture - the church = parachurch organizations.  The culture + the church - the gospel = liberalism.  The church + the gospel - the culture = fundamentalism. 

2.  Driscoll berates churches that cling to traditionalism.  He writes, "The result of traditionalism is a Christianity that has all the right answers to all the wrong questions, because the questions that were once most pressing are no longer being asked."  Sadly, as he points out, most established congregations and the pastors who serve them are afraid to address the questions that are presently being asked because they may make "good church people" feel uncomfortable.

3.  As equally as Driscoll rails against churches that circle the wagons lest those "sinners" infect us with their sin, he derides churches that seek to be innovative and end up acquiescing to the culture.  "The irony of this innovation is that churches and ministries that pursue it become so relevant to the culture that they are, in fact, irrelevant and are unable to call lost people from or to anything because they have lost the distinctive and countercultural nature of the gospel.  Unrestrained and undiscerning innovation not only contextualizes the gospel to fit a culture but also capitulates it to the culture."

4.  This being said, Driscoll doesn't allow himself to be catch up in the culture of criticism in which we live.  In each chapter, he points to a problem or issue that exists within the church or culture, then explains how the gospel can redeem that problem. 

5.  Don't read this book if you lack a sense of humor about the church.  Driscoll regularly using satire and sarcasm to make his point.  I found it immensely entertaining, LOL funny in places.

6.  I have to admit that I'm still assimilating what he says.  It sounds good on paper but "does it preach."  It's one thing to acknowledge that I and my church need to be more relevant, it's another thing to take the risk to do so.  But if we don't what good are we to the Kingdom?

The Pebble that Started an Avalanche

Rosa Parks died yesterday.  Her death brings to the forefront of the news (MSNBC Report) the incredible changes which swept through our nation because of her simple act of disobedience.  30 years after she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, AL bus she said, "“At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this.  It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.”

Rosa Parks has long been one of my heroes, as she has for millions of others.  Her action on that fateful day reminds me that one person can make a difference.  All great cultural change has begun when one person challenged the status qua.  It also reminds me that we don't have the ability to see what impact our actions may have.  So keep acting in faithfulness to God, don't grow weary in doing good, for while we may not live to see the world change because of our faithfulness, we never know what the future holds. 

Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

The arts are slowly making their way back into the church.  And one of the places where that is becoming most obvious is in children's ministry.  Many congregations aren't satisfied with plain white walls in their classrooms.  This trend has caught the attention of the Washington Post.  It recently profiled Bruce Barry.

Bruce Barry, a special-effects wizard who designed animatronic gorillas and elephants for Rainforest Cafes and painted backgrounds for Universal Studios, has almost completed this razzle-dazzle children's ministry environment for the new complex at Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.  (read more)

While most congregations cannot invest thousands of dollars to hire Barry or other creative artists to razzle-dazzle their kids, other options are available.  Creative for Kids offers a variety of thematic patterns for Sunday School design.  We here in Sumner are fortunate enough to have several creative,talented individuals, my wife Julie among these, who have added some dazzle to our classrooms.  You can see some of what's been done on our website.  Though I must add that these murals were among the most controversial things we've done.  There exists in our community, like most small midwestern towns I've lived in, a depression-era mentality.  This kind of thinkings says you do the bare essential because anything more than that is extravagance.  And for those who think this way "extravagance" has no place in the church.  I say this to forewarn others who may be considering bringing their imagination to the design of Sunday School rooms.  Don't expect everyone to sing your praises.  The kids will!  But sadly many established church members don't see any value in the arts in the ministry of Christ.  Given time, I believe this will change, at least I hope it will.

Another Monster Hurricane

    They say it's the biggest one ever.  Hurricane Wilma is sweeping across the Yucatan peninsula and is supposed to be heading for the Florida keys.  People are starting to ask if all the natural disasters are a sign of the end times.  Yes.  Ever since Christ accession, humanity has been living in the end times.  This is what Jesus predicted would happen as the end drew near,

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not  alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.  Matthew 24:6-8  (NIV)

     St. Paul wrote, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."  Romans 8:22 (NIV)   It appears to me that the groaning is getting more intense.  Christ return is imminent.  It may not be tomorrow or in the next month or decade or century or millennium.  That doesn't change the fact that we need to be awake and conscience of what is happening around us.  I believe that we're just beginning to see the early stages of creation's labor.  The 100's of thousands who are been killed in the past couple of years because of earthquakes, tsunamis, famine and wars are an early indication of what is to come. 

     That would be a very scary and pessimistic prediction if it were not for Jesus said, "Don't be alarmed."  While the birthing process is painful, we know what is being brought into existence.  Just as a mother rejoices when her labor pains begin, because she know the child she has been longing for will soon be held in her arms, so we can rejoice in the midst of the pain of this world for we know where the pain is leading, "creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" Romans 8:21  (NIV). 

NASCAR & the Church

Chad Hall in an article for Leadership Journal compares the emerging culture to NASCAR.  While there a number of diehard NASCAR fans in my congregation, I don't find it remotely appealing.  I just don't see the attraction of a bunch of cars driving around in a circle.  (My friends are aware of this and once reset all my car's radio's buttons to the local NASCAR radio station.)  I do know enough about it and the emerging world that I can see the relationship that Chad Hall is making.  He points out five lessons churches can learn from this relationship.

1. The sport centers on loyalty to persons, not on loyalty to institutions or organizations.
2. Many NASCAR fans secretly think, "I could do that."
3. Racing fans typically pull for more than one driver.
4. NASCAR drivers don't have to win in order to win.
5. NASCAR promotes a team approach to individual success.

As strange as the phenomenon of NASCAR seems to me, so the emerging culture must seem to many established churchgoers.  I question why anyone would want to spend an afternoon watching or listening to cars go around a track.  In the same manner, many 20th churchgoers can't understand why 21st century people don't feel the same loyalty and sense of duty to the church as they do.  A result of this is that 20th century churchgoers often see 21st century churchgoers as less dedicated to Christ.  That simply isn't true.  Hall correctly points out that 21st century people approach life and faith from a completely different perspective.  Any congregation that doesn't figure that out will go the way of major league baseball whose stadiums often look like ghost towns.

The Wrong Question

One of the most memoriable things my theology professor told us in class one day, was that the creation stories in Genesis 1 & 2 are not an explanation on HOW creation came to be, but WHY God created.

While the theory of evolution doesn't adequately explain how life came to be on the earth, it's also impossible for me to believe that God created the universe and all that is in it during a literal six day period.  So what's a person to do?  Though the HOW question is not unimportant, by focusing on HOW, the more important question WHY is often overlooked.

God is love.  But as some poetic writer has said, "love isn't love until you give it away."  God's love didn't need to give God's love away.  God is complete within the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  However, God wanted something and someone to express this love toward beyond Godself.  It was out of this desire to express love that God created the universe and all living creatures.  It's as if God were saying to every human being, "Look around you, I've left evidences of my love for you everywhere."  Like a master builder, God stepped back to examine God's work along the way, making sure that it was a worthy expression of God's love.  It was.  Genesis 1 tells us that at the end of each new act of creation, God looked at what was made and said, "It's good."

Anyone can come up with an answer to the HOW question.  Some answers are more plausible than others.  Only those who believe in a creating God can answer the WHY question.  For without God,there is no answer.  There is no reason for the universe.  There is no reason for life on Earth.  And that's a scary, hopeless reality.  Therefore, to avoid facing that reality, those who don't believe must focus on something else.  By doing so, they continually ask the wrong question. 

As Christians, I don't think we should be sucked into trying to answer a question for which there can only be theories.  Let's ask the question that really matters, the question that we know for sure what the answer is.  WHY?

Odd Week

Friday is usually my sermon writing day.  But because it's Laity Sunday, no sermon prep for me.  I feel kind of lost without having a sermon to do.  I, who am so addicted to change, don't know quite how to handle having my routine altered. 

I did create a worship graphic for Sunday, even though it's not going to be used.  Since I can't show it to you on my website, my Frontpage program crashed and I'm waiting for a new disk before I can reinstall it, I stuck it in here.  As I said, I don't feel right not having a sermon to write so here's a few thoughts on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10.

Paul holds the Thessalonians up as a model for other believers.  He remembers them in prayer, "We think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and your continual anticipation of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ."  (Ahh, the perfect setup for a 3 point sermon, I'll keep it to 1 here.)

It's not unusually to hear sermons, especially in UM churches about faithful work and loving deeds.  Anticipating the return of our Lord, is quite another story.  Just the other day, during a Bible study I lead, several older participants commented on the fact that while growing up in the church, they never heard anything about eschatology (the Lord's return).  Yet according to Paul, the Thessalonians continual anticipation of the return of the Lord is one of the things that makes them a model for other Christians.

Perhaps the reason we UM's don't speak or teach about Jesus' return is because we fear becoming "so heavenly minded we're no earthly good."  It seems to me that it's by being heavenly minded that we become good for earth.  The Biblical view of God's eternal reign is reflected in the teaching of the prophets, the apostles and of Jesus.  It is this vision which is the source of our hope.  The alternative to hope is despair.  Where there is despair, no faithful work or loving deeds are done.  I mean, what's the use?  In the past few weeks we have been vividly reminded of just how powerless and fragile human strength and achievements are.  The wind blows, the earth shakes, the waves crash and suddenly our efforts are evaporated. 

Shortly after Katrina hit, I spoke to a youth leader who had taken her group to New Orleans last winter on a mission trip.  Everything they had done was washed away.  So why bother?  Because we are anticipating the Lord's return.  The work and the deeds we do have eternal significance.  They may not, they will not last here on earth, but when Jesus comes back to claim his own, he will reward those who have been faithful and loving.  Thus we look beyond this world for our sense of meaning and purpose.  As Paul said to the Romans, "If we hope for this life only, we are to be pitied more than all people."

Wi-Fi a Civil Right?

Is access to wireless internet a right that every American should expect to have?  Evidently, if you live in San Francisco it is.  According to SF Mayor Gavin Newsom, wireless access can be seen a basic right that should be available not just to business professionals but also lower-income citizens. "This is a civil rights issue as much as anything else."

I'm all for the free exchange of information, but since when has this been a civil rights issue.  I just don't think this is what the framers had in mind when they penned the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Much of what was once considered a privilege has become a "right." 

It has always been true that information goes to those who can afford it.  Kings & generals of old paid runners to carry their messages.  When the printing press came along, only those who could afford an education and could pay the price of the printed materials got their hands on this information.  Today, information is carried through invisible electronic waves and only those who can afford it can access it.  While this may not necessarily be fair, it's the way the world works.  Life isn't fair, it never has been and it never will be.  Jesus said, "the poor you will have with you always."  That doesn't make poverty a good thing, it simply acknowledges the reality of the world.

So while Newsom's idea certainly seeks to level the playing field, he's unrealistic.  After all, where are the poor to get the hardware needed to tap into the Wi-Fi system.  Is Newsom going to give a computer to every man, woman, and child in SF?  If he doesn't, having free access to Wi-Fi throughout the city may make for good publicity, but it does nothing to make life more fair.

Unity in Christ, That the World May Believe

The Confessing Movement of the United Methodist Church held their annual conference in September.  Out of that conference came a new statement which seeks to address the causes and remedies for the disunity that exists within the UMC.  Here's the press release that was distributed:

“Unity in Christ, That the World May Believe” is a new statement adopted by the Confessing Movement Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio September 24, 2005.  The statement is an attempt to address the church on the basis on which the Confessing Movement believes unity in the denomination can be recovered.   
 
According to the statement sustaining unity requires:
-         A new appreciation of the necessary role of official doctrine in the intellectual and spiritual life of the denomination.
-         The careful teaching of the apostolic faith by bishops, pastors, and seminary professors, including its call for personal and social holiness.
-         Diligently maintaining the beliefs and standards of The Book of Discipline as a covenant of trust.
 
The statement also speaks of practices that contribute to disunity:
-         Neglect of Scripture and disobedience to our Doctrinal Standards,
-         Claims of new sources of revelation that set aside the authority of Holy Scripture and the tested moral standards of the church,
-         Capitulation to lifestyles that are inconsistent with Christian discipleship.
 
            The statement will be accompanied by some additional notes so that it can be the basis for discussion and study.   Persons attending the conference offered a number of helpful suggestions in the formation of the document.  The full document is available on the Confessing Movement website: www.confessingumc.org
 
            Any movement toward church unity must involve conversation, discussion, dialogue, and debate.   While the church talks much about conversations, very few conversations are taking place that involve evangelicals and the institutions of the church.  A major breakthrough of sorts took place on September 21, 2005

at the chapel at Wesley Seminary when persons from RENEW, the renewal effort of evangelical women in the United Methodist Church were able to meet face-to-face representatives of the Women’s Division.  Since 1989 RENEW has sought to bring a more evangelical presence in the programs of the Women’s Division, but this is the first time the Women’s Division was willing to meet to discuss issues of concern to evangelicals.  Jan Love, the new head of the Women’s Division, was primarily responsible for facilitating the meeting.  While issues still remain, it is a hopeful sign that there has at least been a recognition of the differences.  The Washington Post, among other groups, covered the meeting.  For more information, go to: www.goodnewsmag.org/news/092205RENEW_UMW.htm
or www.umc.org and link to the article: “Church Women’s Forum Brings Basic Differences to Surface.”

God and Guinness

There's been a big debate going on at the Wesley blog.  The question Shane posed is it okay for a Christian to drink alcoholic beverages.  About the only thing everyone agreed with is that it's not okay to get drunk.  Beyond that, the opinions ran the gambit.

After having weighed in on the discussion myself, I came across an article from the Winston-Salem Journal titled "God and Guinness."  The grist of the story is that there has been a group of graduate students who have been meeting at a local tap to discuss theological issues.  The reporter noted:

The idea is certainly nothing new. Theological discussion in pubs can be traced to Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation. C.S. Lewis used to get together with J.R.R. Tolkien and other intellectuals for a pint when Lewis was a teacher at Magdalen College in Oxford in the 1930s.

The danger that arises out of this story is that for those who have a drinking problem, they could add to their bag of rationalizations, "When I drink, I'm in good company."  There is clearly a difference between having a friendly brew with one's buddies, and being dependent, even addicted to alcohol.