I just got back from running sound at a sweet bar, that very much resembled Coyote Ugly, named Fergie's in Lebanon, KY. The show was awesome, it was by a guy named Jason Aldean or something like that, I dunno he's some random country guy, and a band named Hooker. Yeah I know that's a funny band name. Well while I was running sound, I started having some theological thoughts, so I thought I would quickly blog about them before I go to bed, even though it is 4:00am.
As I was standing at the monitor console tonight, I began to wonder what exactly separates me, as a Christian from the drunken mass on the dance floor. Other than the obvious - Christians don't dance! What makes me different from them as a Christian that wouldn't be different if I walked away from the faith?
Here is the dialectical discussion that ran through my head:
Is it that I don't drink? No, that's not it, because I believe drinking is theologically permissible and if I walked away from the faith, I"m pretty sure I still wouldn't drink,just because I have no desire to at all.
Is it that I don't swear? No, words are just words and I just don't like to be vulgar, so even if I left the faith I probably still wouldn't swear.
Is it that I don't wear cowboy hats and say Yee Haw! No, cause that's just lame.
Is it that I am kind to people? It seems that, this one gets closer, but I just enjoy being nice to people and I think that if I walked away from the faith I would still be a pretty nice guy.
I thought through a bunch of other things and I began to wonder "where is the sacrifice." Almost as soon as I thought this I remembered Jesus' quotation of Micah something that sounds like this "understand this, I desire Mercy not sacrifice." Couple this with the overly quoted "they will know you by your love" and one would tend to think that the answer to my question is self evident. Well I think not.
I thought about this for a bit.
Is showing mercy and love to the poor what separates me? No, because I would have compassion on them anyways. There are plenty of people who do lots of wonderful things for the poor and they're as unregenerate as unregenerate can be.
Is showing love enough? Well, yes, but then we have to hyper-qualify the love to be unconditional love that is only perfectly displayed through the power of the Spirit.
And I feel we cannot forget sacrifice, although if we take the above quotation out of context we can easily assume that no sacrifice is needed anymore. However, the bible is very clear that sacrifice is required.
So where is the sacrifice?
It seems to me that this might be what the distinction is - willingness to sacrifice, or better yet the practice of sacrifice. I am not ignoring mercy and love, they are essential, but so often we try to show them in our own strength and confuse love and mercy with good deeds and we do the deeds as the end in themselves and call it sacrifice. I believe love, mercy, and sacrifice all go together, but it seems that we've really forgotten sacrifice. True love and mercy (to hyper-qualify them) truly do mean love and mercy that are sacrificial beyond our wildest thoughts.
But I think the important questions for us all to answer, one that I'm still struggling with is this. "If I walked away from the faith today, what would be different about me?" If the answer is nothing or hardly nothing then we have sold ourselves out to something that is nor more Christian than the Mormons are. Non sacrificial living is not living in the shadow of the cross and it is not living in the reality of the resurrection.
The problem for us is seeing what sacrifice really is. We say "but I do sacrifice" and refer to something lame like teach Sunday school. Yes for some that may be a true sacrifice, but for most, it's a cop out. We as Americans suck at sacrificing. What we need is a good old fashioned persecution! Then sacrifice will come, it will come at the cost of our lives, at the cost of our children, parents and other loved ones. We will then live in the ever-present reality that our brothers and sisters in China live in. It seems to me that when we learn sacrifice, true sacrifice, that we will also learn true mercy and love, because there will be nothing left in us to hinder the flow of those things from the Spirit in our lives.
I know, these are crazy thoughts especially since they were developed while listening to country songs about beer and tractors. But maybe I'm right, or maybe I'm completely wrong. But either way I still think a good question to ask ourselves is: "If I walked away form the faith today, what would be different about my life?"
Friday, December 09, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Postmodernism
Let me preface this post by saying that I'm a bit tired so I apologize in advance for any points that seem to be unusually unclear or nonsensical.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about postmodernism and the Church's response to it. Some of this thinking has come from classroom readings, some from dialogues with friends and some from my own experience in a postmodern "intentional community."
Thinking back to my Houghton days, oh so long ago, I remember how I was all about postmodernity and the "emergent" movement. I was so excited for this new paradigm in which to minister. A paradigm which seemed to throw off the shackles of modernity; especially the scientific method and the need for empiracle proof of all things, and seemed to embrace experience, narrative, and people.
I was all for this new paradigm for the majority of senior year and did not become wary of it until Doug Pagit came along and told us about his emergent church: Solomon's Porch in Minnesota. His lack of concern for orthodoxy bothered me, along with the lack of spiritual depth with which this emergent leader spoke. I am not trying to criticize him personally, but I observed this in his lecture and my subsequent conversations with him. My main concern with this was that he was one of the key leaders of a movement and seemed to lack deep spiritual passion - usually a bad combination.
Although this was a red flag, I still was a fan of postmodern christianity represented by authors like Pagit, and McClaren, and what is becoming countless other authors. This changed, however, when I came to Asbury.
At Asbury one can hardly hear students and some faculty talke for long without hearing phrases like: "our story", "our narrative", "emergent", "community", and other words and phrases that are hot phrases in the postmodern christian dialect. (To be sure, the context these phrases were spoken in ways often spiritually deep and packed with meaning.) Added to this I started to attend "Communality" an emergent-like intentional community in Lexington that had a very postmodern vibe. With the combination of these two factors and some readings in one of my classes, I began to have a new perspective on postmodernism and Christianity. I guess one could say that I was simply getting burnt out on the phrasology, but I would argue that I was begining to see a broader picture than what I had seen before.
I began to wonder why I was becoming dissillusioned with this Christian embrace of postmodernism. I wondered if it was the apparent lack of spiritual power that I observed in Communality and Pagit. I didn't think this was it because at the seminary there was incredible depth. I wondered if I was just sick of hearing the word story and narrative. Maybe, but it seemed to be larger than just annoyance. I wondered if I was just merely too far entrenched in modernism that it hurt to break out. I didn't think that was it either. I kept asking these sorts of questions trying to pinpoint what I disliked about it and then the other day I seemed to realize my problem with it.
It's trendy.
I think that we as Christians are making way too big a deal out of postmodernity. We're racking our brains trying to discifer the global culture, the way the world is taking shape. We're trying to be relevant by accentuating community, story, and other postmodern things, when really we're just hopping on the newest Christian fad.
I'm not saying that postmodernity doesn't exist, I'm not saying we should stop trying to understand culture, but I'm asking "why do we care so much?" Why are we so busy trying to understand what the world is thinking. It's as if we need to figure it out because we have a way to project the gospel to the whole world at once and it needs to be relevant to all. I am convinced this deep need to understand the entire culture is nothing but an immediate product of our mass targeted Christianity (church growth movement) which is deeply rooted in modernism. We're becoming obsessed with community and story because it is the next gimmick we can use to sucker mass groups of people into the Kingdom (or what we narrowlly view the Kingdom as being - i.e. the local church). The Kingdom always grows one individual at a time (though it does not emphasize THE individual in all things) and it is always working by the power of the Spirit.
Yes, community and story are genuinly important to some (and rightly so), but to talk about them all the time seems like a mere gimmick. To value community is not to continuously talk about it, rather it is to live within it and structure one's life within community and to value story is the same.
We've missed the mark. We constantly focus on global contextualization when really that's not the issue. The real issue is local contextualization. Why do we care what the whole world thinks and how society is moving. To be concerned with that seems to me to be an excuse for us to become blind to what our neighbor thinks and how she or he is moving in life. We constantly seek to look on large scales, when the real ministry of the Kingdom is done on small scale. In the case of the Kingdom of God, bigger is not better!! - Well at least not until the parousia.
The book of Acts shows us the movement of the Kingdom from Jerusalem outward. It starts small, with a rag tag group of Spirit filled disciples and grows into a large Spirit filled movement that encompasses much of what was then the known world, including Rome. While we may not have the same scenario here, we do have something analogous. We are constantly looking at Rome and beyond and trying to figure out how to reach it, but we haven't even concerned ourselves with Jerusalem, let alone forged a path to Rome.
We need to stop talking and start living. We need to stop theorizing about what the world is thinking and start dealing with the thoughts of those around us. We need to throw our hands in the air and say "who cares about postmodernism." We need to realize that the only ones talking about it are philosophers and Chrsitians (not that the two groups are mutually exclusive) and realize that the average person on the street, doesn't need postmodern Chrstians, they need real Spirit-filled Christians to help them in their needieness - both spiritual and physical.
So who does care? Not I.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about postmodernism and the Church's response to it. Some of this thinking has come from classroom readings, some from dialogues with friends and some from my own experience in a postmodern "intentional community."
Thinking back to my Houghton days, oh so long ago, I remember how I was all about postmodernity and the "emergent" movement. I was so excited for this new paradigm in which to minister. A paradigm which seemed to throw off the shackles of modernity; especially the scientific method and the need for empiracle proof of all things, and seemed to embrace experience, narrative, and people.
I was all for this new paradigm for the majority of senior year and did not become wary of it until Doug Pagit came along and told us about his emergent church: Solomon's Porch in Minnesota. His lack of concern for orthodoxy bothered me, along with the lack of spiritual depth with which this emergent leader spoke. I am not trying to criticize him personally, but I observed this in his lecture and my subsequent conversations with him. My main concern with this was that he was one of the key leaders of a movement and seemed to lack deep spiritual passion - usually a bad combination.
Although this was a red flag, I still was a fan of postmodern christianity represented by authors like Pagit, and McClaren, and what is becoming countless other authors. This changed, however, when I came to Asbury.
At Asbury one can hardly hear students and some faculty talke for long without hearing phrases like: "our story", "our narrative", "emergent", "community", and other words and phrases that are hot phrases in the postmodern christian dialect. (To be sure, the context these phrases were spoken in ways often spiritually deep and packed with meaning.) Added to this I started to attend "Communality" an emergent-like intentional community in Lexington that had a very postmodern vibe. With the combination of these two factors and some readings in one of my classes, I began to have a new perspective on postmodernism and Christianity. I guess one could say that I was simply getting burnt out on the phrasology, but I would argue that I was begining to see a broader picture than what I had seen before.
I began to wonder why I was becoming dissillusioned with this Christian embrace of postmodernism. I wondered if it was the apparent lack of spiritual power that I observed in Communality and Pagit. I didn't think this was it because at the seminary there was incredible depth. I wondered if I was just sick of hearing the word story and narrative. Maybe, but it seemed to be larger than just annoyance. I wondered if I was just merely too far entrenched in modernism that it hurt to break out. I didn't think that was it either. I kept asking these sorts of questions trying to pinpoint what I disliked about it and then the other day I seemed to realize my problem with it.
It's trendy.
I think that we as Christians are making way too big a deal out of postmodernity. We're racking our brains trying to discifer the global culture, the way the world is taking shape. We're trying to be relevant by accentuating community, story, and other postmodern things, when really we're just hopping on the newest Christian fad.
I'm not saying that postmodernity doesn't exist, I'm not saying we should stop trying to understand culture, but I'm asking "why do we care so much?" Why are we so busy trying to understand what the world is thinking. It's as if we need to figure it out because we have a way to project the gospel to the whole world at once and it needs to be relevant to all. I am convinced this deep need to understand the entire culture is nothing but an immediate product of our mass targeted Christianity (church growth movement) which is deeply rooted in modernism. We're becoming obsessed with community and story because it is the next gimmick we can use to sucker mass groups of people into the Kingdom (or what we narrowlly view the Kingdom as being - i.e. the local church). The Kingdom always grows one individual at a time (though it does not emphasize THE individual in all things) and it is always working by the power of the Spirit.
Yes, community and story are genuinly important to some (and rightly so), but to talk about them all the time seems like a mere gimmick. To value community is not to continuously talk about it, rather it is to live within it and structure one's life within community and to value story is the same.
We've missed the mark. We constantly focus on global contextualization when really that's not the issue. The real issue is local contextualization. Why do we care what the whole world thinks and how society is moving. To be concerned with that seems to me to be an excuse for us to become blind to what our neighbor thinks and how she or he is moving in life. We constantly seek to look on large scales, when the real ministry of the Kingdom is done on small scale. In the case of the Kingdom of God, bigger is not better!! - Well at least not until the parousia.
The book of Acts shows us the movement of the Kingdom from Jerusalem outward. It starts small, with a rag tag group of Spirit filled disciples and grows into a large Spirit filled movement that encompasses much of what was then the known world, including Rome. While we may not have the same scenario here, we do have something analogous. We are constantly looking at Rome and beyond and trying to figure out how to reach it, but we haven't even concerned ourselves with Jerusalem, let alone forged a path to Rome.
We need to stop talking and start living. We need to stop theorizing about what the world is thinking and start dealing with the thoughts of those around us. We need to throw our hands in the air and say "who cares about postmodernism." We need to realize that the only ones talking about it are philosophers and Chrsitians (not that the two groups are mutually exclusive) and realize that the average person on the street, doesn't need postmodern Chrstians, they need real Spirit-filled Christians to help them in their needieness - both spiritual and physical.
So who does care? Not I.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Ramadan Ends
Ramadan has ended and thus has my Ramadan fast. I'm not really sure to write here, but I thought I should write on the end of Ramadan since I wrote about the begining. So my thoughts will probably be a little more scattered than normal, hopefully you can follow them.
I'm not sure if I will ever see or hear about any of the fruit of my prayer and fasting, but it was worth it. I have come out of this time with an increased love for the Islamic people of the world. I have a bigger view of where Islam is and how the Evil One uses it as a great tool of deception and oppression. The weekday lunch hours I spend in prayer with five other people were wonderful times. I don't know if I have ever prayed with people that ferverent in praying for people many of them don't know. It made me realize how little our churches care about the lost and the world.
I do have to give tremendous props to the Muslims though. I started the fast and it wasn't too bad and then I found out that you're not allowed to drink during the daylight hours. Then it got hard. Couple that with intramural sports and a student's schedule and by the 3rd week I felt myself getting pretty spent.
This also made me think about how much food is more than food in our culture. So much of our society centers around food. Hanging out with friends almost always involves some sort of food. If you don't eat lunch, but are still around people who do you feel like they're look at you wierd. Sometimes it was almost as if I would remove myself from social situations to avoid the complication of describing what I was doing and why I couldn't eat. Our society is completely wrapped up in food and doing this also helped me to see that in a new light.
I can't think of any other thoughts about Ramadan. I know I had a few more but I forgot to jot them down and have since forgotten them. Especially because Ramadan ended a few days ago.
So there is a little bit of an update, if you wanted one.
Blessings
I'm not sure if I will ever see or hear about any of the fruit of my prayer and fasting, but it was worth it. I have come out of this time with an increased love for the Islamic people of the world. I have a bigger view of where Islam is and how the Evil One uses it as a great tool of deception and oppression. The weekday lunch hours I spend in prayer with five other people were wonderful times. I don't know if I have ever prayed with people that ferverent in praying for people many of them don't know. It made me realize how little our churches care about the lost and the world.
I do have to give tremendous props to the Muslims though. I started the fast and it wasn't too bad and then I found out that you're not allowed to drink during the daylight hours. Then it got hard. Couple that with intramural sports and a student's schedule and by the 3rd week I felt myself getting pretty spent.
This also made me think about how much food is more than food in our culture. So much of our society centers around food. Hanging out with friends almost always involves some sort of food. If you don't eat lunch, but are still around people who do you feel like they're look at you wierd. Sometimes it was almost as if I would remove myself from social situations to avoid the complication of describing what I was doing and why I couldn't eat. Our society is completely wrapped up in food and doing this also helped me to see that in a new light.
I can't think of any other thoughts about Ramadan. I know I had a few more but I forgot to jot them down and have since forgotten them. Especially because Ramadan ended a few days ago.
So there is a little bit of an update, if you wanted one.
Blessings
Decisions, decisions, decisions
As some of you may know I'm in the process of making a major decision right now. For those of you who don't know here it is: through a series of events I ended up sending my resume to a Wesleyan church in Austrailia. Things are looking good and they want to set up a phone interview which from what I gather is just a formality to be done before they officicially offer me the position. So the decision is: Do I move to Austrailia and take this church (providing it's offered) or do I stay here at Asbury. This is the main decision I'm working on right now.
What I want to share with you now isn't that I have this huge decision, but something God seemed to be speaking to me the other day.
With this decision I felt the need the other day to get out in nature and spend some time meditating, praying and reading some scripture. As I was out at some nature place near lexington I began reading through one of my favorite Psalms - Psalm 34. As I was reading this and taking some pictures of nature with my camera and praying God seemed to be telling me not to seek out the answer to the decision. He seemed to be saying to me, "seek me, and that will fall into place."
So that's what I've been trying to do. Focus on seeking God in and of himself. With this perspective it's hard not to seek God as a means to an end (the answer to what I should do), but nonetheless I continue to seek God. I pray that he will allow me to truly seek him, not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
No soap box this time, just something God showed me and I thought I would pass along. Take it for whatever it's worth.
Blessings to all of you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!
What I want to share with you now isn't that I have this huge decision, but something God seemed to be speaking to me the other day.
With this decision I felt the need the other day to get out in nature and spend some time meditating, praying and reading some scripture. As I was out at some nature place near lexington I began reading through one of my favorite Psalms - Psalm 34. As I was reading this and taking some pictures of nature with my camera and praying God seemed to be telling me not to seek out the answer to the decision. He seemed to be saying to me, "seek me, and that will fall into place."
So that's what I've been trying to do. Focus on seeking God in and of himself. With this perspective it's hard not to seek God as a means to an end (the answer to what I should do), but nonetheless I continue to seek God. I pray that he will allow me to truly seek him, not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
No soap box this time, just something God showed me and I thought I would pass along. Take it for whatever it's worth.
Blessings to all of you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Allow me to Vent!
I know I should probably write my thoughts on both Greg's and Chuch's thoughts pertaining to "Saints and the Prosperity Gospel" below, but this something that I've been angry about all day.
It started last night while I was watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's basically like the Daily Show, a half hour show of witty satire that takes shameless jabs at the political right and the news media. I must preface this by saying that I'm not one to take offense at much, in fact I love it when people tell religious jokes that make fun of the flaws in the church. I love to watch the Simpsons, read Larknews.com, and browse through to shipoffools.com. All of these things poke much fun at the church, and to be honest they make good points and if the church was truly following Christ and not allowing our own agenda's to get in the way they wouldn't have anything to make fun of us for.
Now I'm not angry about any religious joke that they told or anything like that. What I'm angry about is what the guest on the show said. The guest was an astrophysicist who attended an Ivy League school. I missed his name because I was flipping back and forth between this and the world series, however when I found out the guest was an astrophysicist I stayed on comedy central, because astrophysics is interesting.
Ok on to the anger. During the interview the host, Stephen Colbert, asked a few questions and then brought up the topic of intelligent design. After a bit of talking the guest made the statement that intelligent design was "intillectual laziness."
It didn't really bother me last night, but as I thought about it today I kept getting angry, hence the need to vent - and what better place to vent than a blog!
Intellectual laziness?! I'm fine with people disagreeing with intelligent design, and I really don't care if Christians posit theistic evolution or creationism, but to call intelligent design intellectual laziness, just makes me angry.
I don't care how many stinking letters this guy has after his name (PhD...etc) or where he went to school, I would love to see him or any scholar (including Stephen Hawking) go up against the great minds of Christian History (ie: the saints of the Church - to relate to the last post). I would certainly not call Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, on top of many others intellectually lazy.
Maybe I'm just upset because I'm striving to be an academic right now and to be told that one of my views is completely unintellectual is no fun, but I don't think that's at the heart of it. I mean, shoot, I hold a lot of ideas that many people (even some Christians) think are intellectually absurd. To name some examples: I don't believe in the source hyposthesis for the Penteteuch, I don't hold to the Q source as a development for the gospel theory, I believe in a literal Adam, I believe that all of the charism are still to be used in the church today, and the list could continue. So I don't think that I'm taking this as a personal attack. Rather it's almost as if this man has attacked all of the Christian thinkers throughout the ages and declared them to be morons. I take offense to this, the Christian thinkers through the ages were certainly no slouches and I doubt that one could hardly describe them as intellectually lazy.
So enough with the ranting. I really didn't formulate a coherent defense, so maybe I am intellectually lazy, but the great thinkers of church history such as Aquinas, Augustine, Lewis, Anselm, Abelard, Calvin, et al. were certainly not intellectually inferior to the secular minds of their day, or of any day for that matter.
It started last night while I was watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's basically like the Daily Show, a half hour show of witty satire that takes shameless jabs at the political right and the news media. I must preface this by saying that I'm not one to take offense at much, in fact I love it when people tell religious jokes that make fun of the flaws in the church. I love to watch the Simpsons, read Larknews.com, and browse through to shipoffools.com. All of these things poke much fun at the church, and to be honest they make good points and if the church was truly following Christ and not allowing our own agenda's to get in the way they wouldn't have anything to make fun of us for.
Now I'm not angry about any religious joke that they told or anything like that. What I'm angry about is what the guest on the show said. The guest was an astrophysicist who attended an Ivy League school. I missed his name because I was flipping back and forth between this and the world series, however when I found out the guest was an astrophysicist I stayed on comedy central, because astrophysics is interesting.
Ok on to the anger. During the interview the host, Stephen Colbert, asked a few questions and then brought up the topic of intelligent design. After a bit of talking the guest made the statement that intelligent design was "intillectual laziness."
It didn't really bother me last night, but as I thought about it today I kept getting angry, hence the need to vent - and what better place to vent than a blog!
Intellectual laziness?! I'm fine with people disagreeing with intelligent design, and I really don't care if Christians posit theistic evolution or creationism, but to call intelligent design intellectual laziness, just makes me angry.
I don't care how many stinking letters this guy has after his name (PhD...etc) or where he went to school, I would love to see him or any scholar (including Stephen Hawking) go up against the great minds of Christian History (ie: the saints of the Church - to relate to the last post). I would certainly not call Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, on top of many others intellectually lazy.
Maybe I'm just upset because I'm striving to be an academic right now and to be told that one of my views is completely unintellectual is no fun, but I don't think that's at the heart of it. I mean, shoot, I hold a lot of ideas that many people (even some Christians) think are intellectually absurd. To name some examples: I don't believe in the source hyposthesis for the Penteteuch, I don't hold to the Q source as a development for the gospel theory, I believe in a literal Adam, I believe that all of the charism are still to be used in the church today, and the list could continue. So I don't think that I'm taking this as a personal attack. Rather it's almost as if this man has attacked all of the Christian thinkers throughout the ages and declared them to be morons. I take offense to this, the Christian thinkers through the ages were certainly no slouches and I doubt that one could hardly describe them as intellectually lazy.
So enough with the ranting. I really didn't formulate a coherent defense, so maybe I am intellectually lazy, but the great thinkers of church history such as Aquinas, Augustine, Lewis, Anselm, Abelard, Calvin, et al. were certainly not intellectually inferior to the secular minds of their day, or of any day for that matter.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Saints and the Prosperity Gospel
I just got back from attending St. Athanasias Orthodox Church today and while I was there I had a few thoughts that I thought I'd write about. Yes, I haven't been as committed to posting as I should be, I do have some thoughts that I've been meaning to post, but they'll have to wait for now. On to the issue at hand.
After the first hour or so of the liturgy the Priest (who is married, by the way) gave the sermon from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. As he spoke about this he talked about joy in giving and blessing, specifically stating that he is not proclaiming to us some health and prosperity/name it claim it gospel. A little while later the priest mentioned something about a saint and my friend Nathaniel leaned over to me and told me about a saint of the Orthodox Church that lived in Siberia, who would go walk through the towns and as he saw beggars in need he would give his shoes and coat to the beggars and walk back to his home without shoes and a coat (remember Siberia is mostly cold, very cold).
With that as the foundation let me share my thoughts. I have lamented the lack of recognition of Church history and lack of saints in the Protestant Church for some while now. I'm not necessarily arguing that we need to pray to saints, but our neglect of those who have gone before us in the Protestant tradition is absolutly dreadful, if not in fact sinful (and I do believe one could make a case for that). We as protestants like to recognize a select few (like an occasional missionary or Billy Graham) but primarily they are individuals who lived in relatively recently (or are still alive) and will soon be forgotten. Most of protestantism today barely knows who Wesley, Asbury, Calvin etc are, let alone Ignatius, Irenaus, Athanasias, etc are. We tend to exalt those in the Protestant tradition who do great things, rather than those who live lives of sainthood.
As I was thinking about all this I began to wonder what would have happened if the Protestant Church had maintained the use of saints? Could the prosperity gospel exist? It seems to me that I have to allow that it could exist; but that it would be considerably hard for it to exist in as wide spread state as it does. Why is this you may ask. Well it seems to me that only those who live saintly lives are canonized as saints. I don't know of any saints who are lifted up because of the life of affluence they lived. Saints are canonized because they model Christ's teachings, they give completely of themselves, they are an example to all believers. With a strong tradition of recognizing this life of sacrifice in men and women throughout church history, I would say that it would be hard for a teaching that proclaims something completely contrary to this (and Christ's teachings) to take root and become widespread.
The problem with the protestant church is that people who live these lives of sacrifice often fall through the cracks. We don't remember them becuase we view them as insignificant in our individualized self/purpose driven world. We don't look at ourselves as living in a tradition that starts at creation, proceeds through the Old Testament, to the New, through the church of the ages and finally to us. This is who we are and it is good to remember those who came before us (cf: Hebrews 11).
We also have a skewed view of the incarnation. We have allowed dualism to tarnish our worldview. We view the incarnation as a past event. As John Madden would say: "Boom!" it happened. We tend to view life as something that means little except for a time where we made decisions that affect where we go in the end. We don't view all of life as a being an incarnation of Christ to the world. I get so frustrated every time I see the stupid (and dare I say heretical) bumper sticker: "I'm not a physical being having a spiritual experience, I"m a spiritual being having a physical experience." It is this garbage theology that has allowed the Protestant Church to neglect the poor, to abuse the helpless and live in some bastardized state between orthodoxy and gnosticism. We think that we only need to worship God with our minds and our hearts, how much more should we engage all that God gave us, our mind, heart, and body (including all the sense)!
All that to say that we should be lifting up examples of men and women who have gone before us in the faith and have lived lives that are true incarnations of Christ. They teach us that it's not enough to think right, but to act and live right as well. Live and act, not in my own personal/individualistic sphere, but with in a community, within the whole world.
Why should we not celebrate the saints of the Church? Why should we not have aids to remember them and allow our hearts to be drawn closer to the Trinity through the example of their lives? Should we not allow their example to point us toward Christ and to the life that he commanded and lived himself?
To get back to the point, it seems to me that this strong emphasis would have helped the Protestant Church to see the health and wealth/prosperity gospel for what it truly is, namely a heresy that is not in line with what the church has believed and taught throughout the ages. That's what we are, we are bearers of the faith that has been handed to us. How dare we think that this is something new we are a part of! How dare we believe that we're starting something original! As A. W. Tozer says: "if the reader should discover here anythign really new he is conscience bound to reject it, for whatever in religion is new is by the same token false." (Pursuit of God, xiii). Or as C. S. Lewis (held as a 'saint' by some protestants) states: "if any parts of the book are 'original', in the sense of being novel...they are so against my will...I have tried to assume nothing that is not professed by all baptised and communicating Christians" (The Problem of Pain, xii)
I guess my ranting has started again and my point is now lost in the plethora of words. To summarize, it seems to me that if we, as protestants, hadn't rejected all church history prior to the reformation, and had continued to hold up examples of those who lived incarnationally in line with the words of Jesus, we would be having less of a problem now with false doctrines such as the prosperity gospel and the like. We desperately need to recapture our roots (not of protestantism, but of Christianity) and learn from our Orthodox and Catholic brothers and sisters. We dont' have to assimilate everthing they do (although it would be great to see the church whole again) but we do have to accept them as sharing our baptism in the name of the Trinity, and thus they are by nature Christians - our brothers and sisters.
After the first hour or so of the liturgy the Priest (who is married, by the way) gave the sermon from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. As he spoke about this he talked about joy in giving and blessing, specifically stating that he is not proclaiming to us some health and prosperity/name it claim it gospel. A little while later the priest mentioned something about a saint and my friend Nathaniel leaned over to me and told me about a saint of the Orthodox Church that lived in Siberia, who would go walk through the towns and as he saw beggars in need he would give his shoes and coat to the beggars and walk back to his home without shoes and a coat (remember Siberia is mostly cold, very cold).
With that as the foundation let me share my thoughts. I have lamented the lack of recognition of Church history and lack of saints in the Protestant Church for some while now. I'm not necessarily arguing that we need to pray to saints, but our neglect of those who have gone before us in the Protestant tradition is absolutly dreadful, if not in fact sinful (and I do believe one could make a case for that). We as protestants like to recognize a select few (like an occasional missionary or Billy Graham) but primarily they are individuals who lived in relatively recently (or are still alive) and will soon be forgotten. Most of protestantism today barely knows who Wesley, Asbury, Calvin etc are, let alone Ignatius, Irenaus, Athanasias, etc are. We tend to exalt those in the Protestant tradition who do great things, rather than those who live lives of sainthood.
As I was thinking about all this I began to wonder what would have happened if the Protestant Church had maintained the use of saints? Could the prosperity gospel exist? It seems to me that I have to allow that it could exist; but that it would be considerably hard for it to exist in as wide spread state as it does. Why is this you may ask. Well it seems to me that only those who live saintly lives are canonized as saints. I don't know of any saints who are lifted up because of the life of affluence they lived. Saints are canonized because they model Christ's teachings, they give completely of themselves, they are an example to all believers. With a strong tradition of recognizing this life of sacrifice in men and women throughout church history, I would say that it would be hard for a teaching that proclaims something completely contrary to this (and Christ's teachings) to take root and become widespread.
The problem with the protestant church is that people who live these lives of sacrifice often fall through the cracks. We don't remember them becuase we view them as insignificant in our individualized self/purpose driven world. We don't look at ourselves as living in a tradition that starts at creation, proceeds through the Old Testament, to the New, through the church of the ages and finally to us. This is who we are and it is good to remember those who came before us (cf: Hebrews 11).
We also have a skewed view of the incarnation. We have allowed dualism to tarnish our worldview. We view the incarnation as a past event. As John Madden would say: "Boom!" it happened. We tend to view life as something that means little except for a time where we made decisions that affect where we go in the end. We don't view all of life as a being an incarnation of Christ to the world. I get so frustrated every time I see the stupid (and dare I say heretical) bumper sticker: "I'm not a physical being having a spiritual experience, I"m a spiritual being having a physical experience." It is this garbage theology that has allowed the Protestant Church to neglect the poor, to abuse the helpless and live in some bastardized state between orthodoxy and gnosticism. We think that we only need to worship God with our minds and our hearts, how much more should we engage all that God gave us, our mind, heart, and body (including all the sense)!
All that to say that we should be lifting up examples of men and women who have gone before us in the faith and have lived lives that are true incarnations of Christ. They teach us that it's not enough to think right, but to act and live right as well. Live and act, not in my own personal/individualistic sphere, but with in a community, within the whole world.
Why should we not celebrate the saints of the Church? Why should we not have aids to remember them and allow our hearts to be drawn closer to the Trinity through the example of their lives? Should we not allow their example to point us toward Christ and to the life that he commanded and lived himself?
To get back to the point, it seems to me that this strong emphasis would have helped the Protestant Church to see the health and wealth/prosperity gospel for what it truly is, namely a heresy that is not in line with what the church has believed and taught throughout the ages. That's what we are, we are bearers of the faith that has been handed to us. How dare we think that this is something new we are a part of! How dare we believe that we're starting something original! As A. W. Tozer says: "if the reader should discover here anythign really new he is conscience bound to reject it, for whatever in religion is new is by the same token false." (Pursuit of God, xiii). Or as C. S. Lewis (held as a 'saint' by some protestants) states: "if any parts of the book are 'original', in the sense of being novel...they are so against my will...I have tried to assume nothing that is not professed by all baptised and communicating Christians" (The Problem of Pain, xii)
I guess my ranting has started again and my point is now lost in the plethora of words. To summarize, it seems to me that if we, as protestants, hadn't rejected all church history prior to the reformation, and had continued to hold up examples of those who lived incarnationally in line with the words of Jesus, we would be having less of a problem now with false doctrines such as the prosperity gospel and the like. We desperately need to recapture our roots (not of protestantism, but of Christianity) and learn from our Orthodox and Catholic brothers and sisters. We dont' have to assimilate everthing they do (although it would be great to see the church whole again) but we do have to accept them as sharing our baptism in the name of the Trinity, and thus they are by nature Christians - our brothers and sisters.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Ramadan Begins
Tomorrow (Oct. 5) marks the start of the 30 day Muslim holy month known as Ramadan. During Ramadan, millions of Muslims all over the world will dedicate themselves to prayer and fasting with the intent of drawing closer Allah. From what I understand they will fast everyday until dusk and then will meet at their mosques and have special meals.
The reason I mention all this is because I also understand that this is a time of year that many Muslims experience dramatic dreams and visions that God uses to draw them to himself through Christ and thus into the Christian faith.
I plan on participating in the fast of Ramadan, fasting breakfast and lunch everyday during this 30 day period, with special emphasis on praying for the Muslim world that is lost and does not know the glorious person of Christ. I pray that they will receive visions, dreams, and revelation of the person of Jesus. That they will come to know him intimately, not as a prophet who was corrupt, but as the Living God, coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.
I don't say this to make myself sound awesomely holy, but to encourage you to pray intently during this time. To fast if God so leads you and to pour your heart out to God on behalf of the millions of Muslims world-wide.
I'm not an Islamic studies expert, nor do I claim to be the originator of this idea, but I do know that these people are lost and that the heart of God burns for their salvation. They are dedicating a whole month of fasting to draw closer to their god, can we not also dedicate a month of prayer to the only true, living Triune God, for the sake of these lost souls?
I'm sure it won't be easy, intercession rarely is. Especially interceding for a group of people that are held in such bondage by the evil one. So I implore you to pray, to fast if led, and to let your heart be broken for these people who are truly seeking.
May the harvest during this season of Ramadan be bountiful for the Kingdom of the Holy Triune God! Amen and Amen!
The reason I mention all this is because I also understand that this is a time of year that many Muslims experience dramatic dreams and visions that God uses to draw them to himself through Christ and thus into the Christian faith.
I plan on participating in the fast of Ramadan, fasting breakfast and lunch everyday during this 30 day period, with special emphasis on praying for the Muslim world that is lost and does not know the glorious person of Christ. I pray that they will receive visions, dreams, and revelation of the person of Jesus. That they will come to know him intimately, not as a prophet who was corrupt, but as the Living God, coeternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.
I don't say this to make myself sound awesomely holy, but to encourage you to pray intently during this time. To fast if God so leads you and to pour your heart out to God on behalf of the millions of Muslims world-wide.
I'm not an Islamic studies expert, nor do I claim to be the originator of this idea, but I do know that these people are lost and that the heart of God burns for their salvation. They are dedicating a whole month of fasting to draw closer to their god, can we not also dedicate a month of prayer to the only true, living Triune God, for the sake of these lost souls?
I'm sure it won't be easy, intercession rarely is. Especially interceding for a group of people that are held in such bondage by the evil one. So I implore you to pray, to fast if led, and to let your heart be broken for these people who are truly seeking.
May the harvest during this season of Ramadan be bountiful for the Kingdom of the Holy Triune God! Amen and Amen!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Holy Jealousy
"...For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God.." Ex 20:5
"...For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God..." Ex 34:14
I just finished reading a few chapters in Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination and was struck and burdened with a thought that might be worthy of sharing.
In his book Brueggemann speaks of the role of the prophet and how it is a needed role for the church today. He sets the message of the prophet firmly in the tension between what we perceive as liberalism and conservativism. In his chapter entitled "Prophetic Criticizing and the Embrace of Pathos" Brueggemann (from here on out Walter, because it's easier to type) discusses Jeremiah and his intense laments and weeping over Israel. Walter writes:
Walter's book and specifically these quotes (although they're probably better understood in context) caused me to think of something: Yahweh is still a jealous God. He is jealous for his people. The church, the people of God, have turned their backs on him.
When this thought first struck me it filled me with hope. I have often wept over the church. I've laid awake at night pleading with God to purify his people, to do anything, revival, persecution, anything, just purify the church. I was filled with hope, because we do worship a jealous God, he is zealous for his people. I believe he will purify his church, he will bring us back to him.
As I thought, I began to dread the jealousy of the Lord. I desire for the church to be brought back, but how will God enact it? Will we have our own "exile" it is a fearful concept, because great and terrible is the day of the Lord.
Is it comforting that God is still jealous? Emphatically YES!! Is it frightening that he is still jealous for his people? YES, terrifyingly so!
But my heart aches for the purification of the church. I say: Come Lord Jesus, move as you must, purify the Church through whatever means necessary, even if it means that many have to die in persecution. I will die, I long to die a martyr's death, if it means the church will realize her sin and return to the Lord. What a great joy for my blood to prove the saying true: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
Come Lord Jesus, do what you must! Will you declare this with me? I pray that you will.
"...For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God..." Ex 34:14
I just finished reading a few chapters in Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination and was struck and burdened with a thought that might be worthy of sharing.
In his book Brueggemann speaks of the role of the prophet and how it is a needed role for the church today. He sets the message of the prophet firmly in the tension between what we perceive as liberalism and conservativism. In his chapter entitled "Prophetic Criticizing and the Embrace of Pathos" Brueggemann (from here on out Walter, because it's easier to type) discusses Jeremiah and his intense laments and weeping over Israel. Walter writes:
"His [Jeremiah's] passion is, as Abraham Heschel has seen, the passion of this God who knows what time it is (Jer 8:7). God knows, and his prophet knows with him, that it is end time." p 48
"Jeremiah has pressed where his contemporaries would not readily go, to the pain of God, to a place where only Hosea had ventured before. Yahweh is no longer an enemy who must punish or destroy but the helpless parent who must stand alongside death, like Mary at Calvary, like David over Absalom, "My child, my child," but he is helpless and can only grieve." pp 54-55
"The prophet is not addressing behavioral problems. He is not even pressing for repentance. He has only the hope that the ache of God could penetrate the numbness of history." p 55 (author's italics)
Walter's book and specifically these quotes (although they're probably better understood in context) caused me to think of something: Yahweh is still a jealous God. He is jealous for his people. The church, the people of God, have turned their backs on him.
When this thought first struck me it filled me with hope. I have often wept over the church. I've laid awake at night pleading with God to purify his people, to do anything, revival, persecution, anything, just purify the church. I was filled with hope, because we do worship a jealous God, he is zealous for his people. I believe he will purify his church, he will bring us back to him.
As I thought, I began to dread the jealousy of the Lord. I desire for the church to be brought back, but how will God enact it? Will we have our own "exile" it is a fearful concept, because great and terrible is the day of the Lord.
Is it comforting that God is still jealous? Emphatically YES!! Is it frightening that he is still jealous for his people? YES, terrifyingly so!
But my heart aches for the purification of the church. I say: Come Lord Jesus, move as you must, purify the Church through whatever means necessary, even if it means that many have to die in persecution. I will die, I long to die a martyr's death, if it means the church will realize her sin and return to the Lord. What a great joy for my blood to prove the saying true: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
Come Lord Jesus, do what you must! Will you declare this with me? I pray that you will.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Being broken over the broken
I don't have much time to write, so I'll get to the point.
We just finished the first chapel, the opening communion service. I don't even know how to respond, I thought about waiting to post/journal/anything until I had time to collect my thoughts, but my fear is that if I wait my thoughts will cease to be clear. Not that they are clear now, I feel as if my heart was just ripped from my chest, as if the very heart of God was shown to me and it now burns within me.
I can't even begin to explain what happened in chapel, a play by play would not do it justice, nor would an audio recording. Being in that room, whith those people, worshipping God, truly worshipping God, with our hearts blows my mind. Yes, it shatters my paradigm everytime I enter that place. But today was different. I was broken, I wept and prayed in groans that only the Spirit knows, others wept and prayed in those same groans, because words will not do. Not Praying and weeping for us, but for the suffering of others, for the victims of katrina, for the starving in Niger, for those caught in the warn torn region of Iraq and others around the globe. The sobs arose from the congregation like the heart of God being poored back to him. We were communing, taking the Eucharist in rememberance of him. Declaring his death until he comes! The whole time realizing that he desires mercry, not sacrifice. Thinking: "What if repentance isn't about my personal bahavior management and more about being broken over the broken" (J.D. Walt, Dean of the Chapel).
And there we were, being broken over the broken. Some may attribute it to an emotional response, but I think it was something other than that. I believe it was the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, breaking us over the brokenness of others. Grafting us into the heart of God. Ripping out our hearts and placing in us the heart of Christ.
My heart has always been tender to those who are suffering, I have often wept for them, been burdened to pray for them, and give to them. But today was differnt. My perspective has changed. One could say that this is just a temporary, emotional, response; my reaction is I guess we'll see. But I truly believe that God met us in those elements today. That God spoke to us and that God did a work in this community, the likes of which I haven't seen. This community is open to the things of God, it is open to changing for him and hearing him speak. This is a good community to be formed in. I truly believe that here most people's hearts break for the things of God. This is good. After all: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness [or mercy], and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8 NRSV)
We just finished the first chapel, the opening communion service. I don't even know how to respond, I thought about waiting to post/journal/anything until I had time to collect my thoughts, but my fear is that if I wait my thoughts will cease to be clear. Not that they are clear now, I feel as if my heart was just ripped from my chest, as if the very heart of God was shown to me and it now burns within me.
I can't even begin to explain what happened in chapel, a play by play would not do it justice, nor would an audio recording. Being in that room, whith those people, worshipping God, truly worshipping God, with our hearts blows my mind. Yes, it shatters my paradigm everytime I enter that place. But today was different. I was broken, I wept and prayed in groans that only the Spirit knows, others wept and prayed in those same groans, because words will not do. Not Praying and weeping for us, but for the suffering of others, for the victims of katrina, for the starving in Niger, for those caught in the warn torn region of Iraq and others around the globe. The sobs arose from the congregation like the heart of God being poored back to him. We were communing, taking the Eucharist in rememberance of him. Declaring his death until he comes! The whole time realizing that he desires mercry, not sacrifice. Thinking: "What if repentance isn't about my personal bahavior management and more about being broken over the broken" (J.D. Walt, Dean of the Chapel).
And there we were, being broken over the broken. Some may attribute it to an emotional response, but I think it was something other than that. I believe it was the Holy Spirit moving in our midst, breaking us over the brokenness of others. Grafting us into the heart of God. Ripping out our hearts and placing in us the heart of Christ.
My heart has always been tender to those who are suffering, I have often wept for them, been burdened to pray for them, and give to them. But today was differnt. My perspective has changed. One could say that this is just a temporary, emotional, response; my reaction is I guess we'll see. But I truly believe that God met us in those elements today. That God spoke to us and that God did a work in this community, the likes of which I haven't seen. This community is open to the things of God, it is open to changing for him and hearing him speak. This is a good community to be formed in. I truly believe that here most people's hearts break for the things of God. This is good. After all: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness [or mercy], and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8 NRSV)
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Community, Hosts, Guests, Strangers, and the Marginalized
The above title seems to be the best description of the thoughts that have been running through my mind since yesterday and that came to some sort of explainable and understandable pinnacle today. For the sake of simplicity I should probably start at the beginning, although even the order of events is a bit convoluted.
In chapel yesterday and today (which was again awesome!) we (the new students) were repeatedly told that we are no longer considered guests, but friends who are part of the Asbury community and even hosts in community. Although that is the reality anytime anyone moves to a community, (especially a new academic institution) it is seldom acted out or even said. Often "freshmen" or incoming students are unintentionally (or possibly intentionally) alienated until they prove themselves worthy to be a functioning part of the community. I found this exhortation to be incredibly touching. The request that a few of the new students serve as communion stewards for the first community Eucharist celebration to be held when the returning students arrive was also very moving, it truly shows to me that we are functioning members of the community, we are part of the formation that goes on in this place. We are truly no longer guests but comprise an essential part of the community. What an awesome revelation!
However awesome that revelation may be, the true epiphany connected with this happened later in the day (actually later than the second thing I will write about, but while we're here I might as well discuss this).
The epiphany is this: It is a shame that we in the church do not take this same stance. When a new people come to faith, we make them prove themselves before we really welcome them into the community. We make them prove that they are good enough, clean enough, respected enough in the world, rich enough or any number of other things before we accept them as hosts in the story that we live in. I'm not saying that we don't need to make sure our ministers are trained and godly before we thrust them in ministry (the church has always done that) but to make people prove themselves before we allow them to enter into the Church (in the purest sense of the word) is ridiculous and down right sinful! There should not be this trial period where we place the world's values of acceptance over Christ's values. Christ's values of acceptance should be the only values the Church holds. We need to stop living with this prideful, sinful, filthy, judgmental way of thinking and accept new converts as "one of us." Yes they may struggle, yes they have learning to do, but so do we all, including the ministers and the elder members of our churches. We need to stop requiring people to be "good enough" before they are part of us. If you think about it honestly, not a single freaking one of us is good enough. It is by grace and grace alone that we have been saved. Yes we are part of the kingdom and we should and better act like it, but placing these ungodly value systems on people before we accept them is not acting like who we are called to be.
The second thought from today occurred during an orientation session with Dr. Joel Green. He started his session by reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, which reads:
Dr. Green briefly exegeted this passage, mainly verse 1, stating that there was a fundamental translation error in the NRSV. He stated that it should not be read as being written to those who are part of the "exiles of the dispersion", rather it should be read as to who Peter wrote it. You see, according to Dr. Green, those were the recipeients of the letter, but Peter was chiefly writing to the WHOLE Church, including us. We know this because, 1) one of the places in the geography list didn't even exist, and 2) it is not "exiles in the dispersion...Who are chosen" but rather a unique word that is hard to translate in English because it is two words mushed together meaning "the marginalized (exiled) chosen ones." Peter isn't saying: "I'm writing to so and so," on the contrary he is writing to all Christians because by our very nature WE ARE THE MARGINALIZED CHOSEN ONES. That is our identity, that is who we are! So often we want to remember that we are chosen, but along with our chosen-ness we have to rememer that we are by nature marginalized, exiled, and dispersed from the world. We don't belong here. We don't live by the worlds standards because we are different, our identity has changed, we are no longer the "Simons" of the world, we are now the "Peters" upon whom Christ shall build his church (Mark 8).
We are forever a blood covered people, a people who don't belong. We do live as aliens because the nature of our salvation takes us out of the world and into Christ. This is our sanctification, this is our calling, this is our life and our identity. We are the Community of faith that stretches back to the Apostles, the Prophets, to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We are hosts in this community, and yet visitors and marginalized from the world. We live as aliens who don't belong and who should be set apart for holiness. The question is, why don't we act like it? That is the apostolic exhortation that we find throughout scripture: "You're a sanctified people, you are in Christ, now start acting like it!" Paul, Peter, John, not to mention Jesus, they all call us to live beyond ourselves, to die to who we are so that we would be truly sanctified, and act like the true people of God.
I fear the problem is that the church has forgotten this. A large majority of the church has forgotten that we don't belong. We've set ungodly social standards and require others to fit those molds, we neglect those who are marginalized by society because we aren't. I am very scared that many "Christians" will hear Jesus say those most dreaded words: "depart from me for I never knew you." Maybe you think that I am going too far? Maybe my standard is to harsh? I don't believe so. Yes, I don't live up to it yet, but I'm striving. We must be holy! Holiness for the people of God is not merely personal holiness, but also social holiness. If you don't think I'm speaking truth then read the words of the prophets and the words of Jesus. Holiness is always a personal and corporate entity. Just as we cannot neglect personal holiness (as some of our liberal friends have) we cannot ignore social holiness (as most of conservative "Christianity" has). John Wesley recognized this when he said something to the affect of "there is no salvation without social holiness."
Western Christianity needs to put down weak and unformational books like the Purpose Driven Life, the Prayer of Jabez, Your Best Life Now, Left Behind and many others and pick up the freaking Bible! True biblical Christianity is dying in the west. Our churches do not teach the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ. We neglect the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden and justify living in our plush American homes. We even neglect personal holiness, we neglect teaching about true love, we neglect teaching about obedience to the cross, dying to self and being willing to die at any minute. Bigger churches keep getting bigger, not because we are seeing multitudes lead to the Lord as in the book of Acts, but because they teach a weak gospel. They teach a gospel that looks nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their gospel is one that is easy to follow, it allows minimal sacrifice and no discomfort at all, except getting up to go to 1 hour of "church as week."
Churches like Lakewood with John Osteen, Saddelback with Rich Warren, Willow Creek with Bill Hybels and Eastern Hills Wesleyan with Karl Eastlack are not churches, they are not part of Christianity, no they are a cult! They teach a false teaching that is destroying the gospel of Christ. People are not being brought into the Kingdom of God, the very thing that Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching about, no, they are being brought into that church and that church alone, that is a sign of a cult.
Don't for a second think that I'm just against big churches, although I do have that bias, little churches too have just as many problems and propagate false teaching. But some and I think many small churches are small because they are faithful to the teachings of Jesus. The true teachings of Jesus are hard, they are foolishness to the world and contrary to everything our culture stands for. We must grab ahold of Jesus teachings and not let go. We must remember that we are by nature a marginalized people, we don't fit in with the world and to allow the world to set our lines for success is wrong and sinful.
I know that most of you who will read this feel the same way as I do, and for that I apologize for my soapbox, but I am so sick of complacent western "Christianity" I feel like I could scream. For those of you who may read this and don't agree with me and feel I've gone to far by naming names, books, and churches among other things; I say that I'm sorry if I've offended you , but I feel that I've spoken truth. Maybe I should have been easier on some of the churches, but I wasn't.
My prayer for all of you this day is that you may live as hosts in the community of God, serving and loving his people. That you would love the marginalized by the world, and remember that you are marginalized by the world because of the cross you carry. Peace be with you as you carry that cross, may the weight of it continue to spur you on toward holiness both personal and social. Remember only the holy are truly happy.
Blessings my friends!
In chapel yesterday and today (which was again awesome!) we (the new students) were repeatedly told that we are no longer considered guests, but friends who are part of the Asbury community and even hosts in community. Although that is the reality anytime anyone moves to a community, (especially a new academic institution) it is seldom acted out or even said. Often "freshmen" or incoming students are unintentionally (or possibly intentionally) alienated until they prove themselves worthy to be a functioning part of the community. I found this exhortation to be incredibly touching. The request that a few of the new students serve as communion stewards for the first community Eucharist celebration to be held when the returning students arrive was also very moving, it truly shows to me that we are functioning members of the community, we are part of the formation that goes on in this place. We are truly no longer guests but comprise an essential part of the community. What an awesome revelation!
However awesome that revelation may be, the true epiphany connected with this happened later in the day (actually later than the second thing I will write about, but while we're here I might as well discuss this).
The epiphany is this: It is a shame that we in the church do not take this same stance. When a new people come to faith, we make them prove themselves before we really welcome them into the community. We make them prove that they are good enough, clean enough, respected enough in the world, rich enough or any number of other things before we accept them as hosts in the story that we live in. I'm not saying that we don't need to make sure our ministers are trained and godly before we thrust them in ministry (the church has always done that) but to make people prove themselves before we allow them to enter into the Church (in the purest sense of the word) is ridiculous and down right sinful! There should not be this trial period where we place the world's values of acceptance over Christ's values. Christ's values of acceptance should be the only values the Church holds. We need to stop living with this prideful, sinful, filthy, judgmental way of thinking and accept new converts as "one of us." Yes they may struggle, yes they have learning to do, but so do we all, including the ministers and the elder members of our churches. We need to stop requiring people to be "good enough" before they are part of us. If you think about it honestly, not a single freaking one of us is good enough. It is by grace and grace alone that we have been saved. Yes we are part of the kingdom and we should and better act like it, but placing these ungodly value systems on people before we accept them is not acting like who we are called to be.
The second thought from today occurred during an orientation session with Dr. Joel Green. He started his session by reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, which reads:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. (NRSV)
Dr. Green briefly exegeted this passage, mainly verse 1, stating that there was a fundamental translation error in the NRSV. He stated that it should not be read as being written to those who are part of the "exiles of the dispersion", rather it should be read as to who Peter wrote it. You see, according to Dr. Green, those were the recipeients of the letter, but Peter was chiefly writing to the WHOLE Church, including us. We know this because, 1) one of the places in the geography list didn't even exist, and 2) it is not "exiles in the dispersion...Who are chosen" but rather a unique word that is hard to translate in English because it is two words mushed together meaning "the marginalized (exiled) chosen ones." Peter isn't saying: "I'm writing to so and so," on the contrary he is writing to all Christians because by our very nature WE ARE THE MARGINALIZED CHOSEN ONES. That is our identity, that is who we are! So often we want to remember that we are chosen, but along with our chosen-ness we have to rememer that we are by nature marginalized, exiled, and dispersed from the world. We don't belong here. We don't live by the worlds standards because we are different, our identity has changed, we are no longer the "Simons" of the world, we are now the "Peters" upon whom Christ shall build his church (Mark 8).
We are forever a blood covered people, a people who don't belong. We do live as aliens because the nature of our salvation takes us out of the world and into Christ. This is our sanctification, this is our calling, this is our life and our identity. We are the Community of faith that stretches back to the Apostles, the Prophets, to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We are hosts in this community, and yet visitors and marginalized from the world. We live as aliens who don't belong and who should be set apart for holiness. The question is, why don't we act like it? That is the apostolic exhortation that we find throughout scripture: "You're a sanctified people, you are in Christ, now start acting like it!" Paul, Peter, John, not to mention Jesus, they all call us to live beyond ourselves, to die to who we are so that we would be truly sanctified, and act like the true people of God.
I fear the problem is that the church has forgotten this. A large majority of the church has forgotten that we don't belong. We've set ungodly social standards and require others to fit those molds, we neglect those who are marginalized by society because we aren't. I am very scared that many "Christians" will hear Jesus say those most dreaded words: "depart from me for I never knew you." Maybe you think that I am going too far? Maybe my standard is to harsh? I don't believe so. Yes, I don't live up to it yet, but I'm striving. We must be holy! Holiness for the people of God is not merely personal holiness, but also social holiness. If you don't think I'm speaking truth then read the words of the prophets and the words of Jesus. Holiness is always a personal and corporate entity. Just as we cannot neglect personal holiness (as some of our liberal friends have) we cannot ignore social holiness (as most of conservative "Christianity" has). John Wesley recognized this when he said something to the affect of "there is no salvation without social holiness."
Western Christianity needs to put down weak and unformational books like the Purpose Driven Life, the Prayer of Jabez, Your Best Life Now, Left Behind and many others and pick up the freaking Bible! True biblical Christianity is dying in the west. Our churches do not teach the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ. We neglect the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden and justify living in our plush American homes. We even neglect personal holiness, we neglect teaching about true love, we neglect teaching about obedience to the cross, dying to self and being willing to die at any minute. Bigger churches keep getting bigger, not because we are seeing multitudes lead to the Lord as in the book of Acts, but because they teach a weak gospel. They teach a gospel that looks nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their gospel is one that is easy to follow, it allows minimal sacrifice and no discomfort at all, except getting up to go to 1 hour of "church as week."
Churches like Lakewood with John Osteen, Saddelback with Rich Warren, Willow Creek with Bill Hybels and Eastern Hills Wesleyan with Karl Eastlack are not churches, they are not part of Christianity, no they are a cult! They teach a false teaching that is destroying the gospel of Christ. People are not being brought into the Kingdom of God, the very thing that Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching about, no, they are being brought into that church and that church alone, that is a sign of a cult.
Don't for a second think that I'm just against big churches, although I do have that bias, little churches too have just as many problems and propagate false teaching. But some and I think many small churches are small because they are faithful to the teachings of Jesus. The true teachings of Jesus are hard, they are foolishness to the world and contrary to everything our culture stands for. We must grab ahold of Jesus teachings and not let go. We must remember that we are by nature a marginalized people, we don't fit in with the world and to allow the world to set our lines for success is wrong and sinful.
I know that most of you who will read this feel the same way as I do, and for that I apologize for my soapbox, but I am so sick of complacent western "Christianity" I feel like I could scream. For those of you who may read this and don't agree with me and feel I've gone to far by naming names, books, and churches among other things; I say that I'm sorry if I've offended you , but I feel that I've spoken truth. Maybe I should have been easier on some of the churches, but I wasn't.
My prayer for all of you this day is that you may live as hosts in the community of God, serving and loving his people. That you would love the marginalized by the world, and remember that you are marginalized by the world because of the cross you carry. Peace be with you as you carry that cross, may the weight of it continue to spur you on toward holiness both personal and social. Remember only the holy are truly happy.
Blessings my friends!
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Chapel at Asbury
Although I've only attended three chapel services here at Asbury (including the one I attended as a prospective) I can honestly say that they have each been some of the most precious times of corporate worship and fellowship that I have ever experienced. I really can't pinpoint it but each time I enter the chapel God has spoken to me in wonderful ways. Although the experience is more than emotional I am always brought to tears in one way or another. The Spirit of God is so powerful in that place when the Asbury community gathers to worship. There are no egos, there are no self-serving motives, there is only pure radiant passion for Holy Triune Godhead.
I can't even begin to explain how I feel every time I leave chapel here at Asbury. I don't leave chapel thinking "that was a good sermon" or "the worship was good," instead I leave chapel longing for all of my friends to be here with me to experience God the way that I have just experienced God. I leave thinking "God is awesome" or "I've just encountered a Holy God who loves me and I have been changed."
I know that three experiences shouldn't qualify as enough empirical evidence to make a statement like this, but I truly feel that the desire of the people here is for God and the Spirit of God is mighty in this place. I feel like every word is a word of truth spoken out of love. To abuse a phrase that I have quoted time and time again "My heart is strangely warmed" with the very words of the greeting or blessing.
I don't feel that I'm "learning something new" each chapel, but rather things that I have known are being made fresh and are piercing through to my heart. The new things I learn are indeed new and profound, but I don't feel overloaded with information, I feel broken and open before the Lord. I feel that he is present and the he is reaching down to embrace me.
Though chapel is the primary place that I feel this, I also feel this intimacy and the reign of the Spirit in various presidential weekly email addresses and other readings written by Asburians. I truly think that Asbury is succeeding in accomplishing its founding principle which is: "to prepare and send forth a well-trained sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministry."
Now I'm not saying that some people don't fall through the cracks while at Asbury. I'm sure there are more than a few people here that are just going through the motions and that have wacked out theologies and ideas, but I still feel that the Spirit of God reigns in this place and in the lives of most of the seminarians here.
I am very confident that this is the place that I am suppose to be right now in my life. God is stretching me ministering to me in new ways. This place seems to be a good fit for me and I believe the reason for that to be because this is where I am called.
I don't say all this to brag on Asbury and to try and convince all my friends who are budding seminarians to come here. I just write all this because it is what God is doing around me, it is what he is speaking to me and it is how he is ministering to me.
There is truly no joy greater than to be in the will of God. For me, right now, it is to be at Asbury Theological Seminary. Maybe net year it will be something different, but for now I am here and am confident that this is the place that God has called me. Although I feared this was the wrong decision I am now assured that it is not.
May you all know God's calling on your life, may he speak his will to you and my you're joy be complete in being where he calls. Blessings to you my friends as you continue on your journeys.
Ben
I can't even begin to explain how I feel every time I leave chapel here at Asbury. I don't leave chapel thinking "that was a good sermon" or "the worship was good," instead I leave chapel longing for all of my friends to be here with me to experience God the way that I have just experienced God. I leave thinking "God is awesome" or "I've just encountered a Holy God who loves me and I have been changed."
I know that three experiences shouldn't qualify as enough empirical evidence to make a statement like this, but I truly feel that the desire of the people here is for God and the Spirit of God is mighty in this place. I feel like every word is a word of truth spoken out of love. To abuse a phrase that I have quoted time and time again "My heart is strangely warmed" with the very words of the greeting or blessing.
I don't feel that I'm "learning something new" each chapel, but rather things that I have known are being made fresh and are piercing through to my heart. The new things I learn are indeed new and profound, but I don't feel overloaded with information, I feel broken and open before the Lord. I feel that he is present and the he is reaching down to embrace me.
Though chapel is the primary place that I feel this, I also feel this intimacy and the reign of the Spirit in various presidential weekly email addresses and other readings written by Asburians. I truly think that Asbury is succeeding in accomplishing its founding principle which is: "to prepare and send forth a well-trained sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministry."
Now I'm not saying that some people don't fall through the cracks while at Asbury. I'm sure there are more than a few people here that are just going through the motions and that have wacked out theologies and ideas, but I still feel that the Spirit of God reigns in this place and in the lives of most of the seminarians here.
I am very confident that this is the place that I am suppose to be right now in my life. God is stretching me ministering to me in new ways. This place seems to be a good fit for me and I believe the reason for that to be because this is where I am called.
I don't say all this to brag on Asbury and to try and convince all my friends who are budding seminarians to come here. I just write all this because it is what God is doing around me, it is what he is speaking to me and it is how he is ministering to me.
There is truly no joy greater than to be in the will of God. For me, right now, it is to be at Asbury Theological Seminary. Maybe net year it will be something different, but for now I am here and am confident that this is the place that God has called me. Although I feared this was the wrong decision I am now assured that it is not.
May you all know God's calling on your life, may he speak his will to you and my you're joy be complete in being where he calls. Blessings to you my friends as you continue on your journeys.
Ben
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
short thoughts on incarnational living
I'm about ready to leave for Notre Dame. I'm going there with a sound production company to run sound at a Cake show. Although this is a "trial run" with me on the team, I'm really excited. I'm excited because if I get the job I'll get a chance to be an incarnational representation of Jesus in a place that most Christians don't get to go (unless they own their own companies and only do Christian shows). The job would be a part time (weekends) thing, but either way I would get a chance to live out my faith with people who wouldn't normally set foot in a church.
I firmly believe that we don't need to water down our churches (ie: church growth movement/seeker church) to reach people who wouldn't set foot in a church. No all we need to do is to be real, to be involved with them and to live our lives in Christ's image. Incarnational ministry and living as Christ is the only way to go.
Ok well I have to go.
May you all live as Christ lived and love as Christ loved today!
I firmly believe that we don't need to water down our churches (ie: church growth movement/seeker church) to reach people who wouldn't set foot in a church. No all we need to do is to be real, to be involved with them and to live our lives in Christ's image. Incarnational ministry and living as Christ is the only way to go.
Ok well I have to go.
May you all live as Christ lived and love as Christ loved today!
Monday, August 22, 2005
Church experiment part II
After my experience with the "charismatic ministry" I was a little hesitant to try out any "off-band" (not denominationally tagged) churches. However hesitant I may have been, I was evidently more curious because I set out at 9:45 Sunday morning in search of Great Commission Fellowship (GCF) a church that one of the head guys of the International House of Prayer helped plant. Well after driving around for 20 minutes not finding it, I drove by Gospel Word Missionary Fellowship. I didn't want to stop, because of the "word" in the name, in fact I drove by twice, but for some reason (either the Holy Spirit's prodding or my own curiosity) I pulled in the parking lot and went to Sunday school and church there. I was hoping upon all hope that this wouldn't be like the last church I attended. I didn't want "word of faith" stuff, I wanted good bible teaching, I wanted to commune with passionate believers, I wanted to be formed and to help form others. The name was enough to drive me away, but I pressed on through my trepidation and walked it. Sunday school had already started so I walked in and sat in the back of the room. I was greeted by a large man who told me what passage we were studying as the women teaching the class continued. Even before I grasped the teaching I felt that this was a good church. Maybe it's because I was the minority (one of only 5 or 6 white faces... Which I loved), maybe it was because there was a woman leading the class, or maybe it was because of the sense of desire for God in the place (I'm thinking it's the last reason).
I almost jumped up and shouted for joy in between Sunday school and the regular service when the little kids' class (5-10 yr olds) came in and recapped their lesson for the adults. They told us how they learned about the Trinity, yes the blessed and neglected doctrine of the Godhead. They explained how each member is God, how they are united in will and in purpose, and substance (thought they didn't use those words) while functioning uniquely. This wasn't some cheesy; let's watch Veggie Tales Sunday school class... No this was teaching kids doctrine while focusing on the practical implications of the doctrine. The kids seemed to understand it and to realize that it's who God is and how God relates to them in each person. Praise the Lord!!
After the singing the pastor got up to speak and started by saying that he had read an article lately that talked about 7 steps for Church Growth. He said that he didn't know it but they basically were the same as what he had been preaching the last 3 weeks. I thought to myself, "here we go again." I was almost ready to tone him out when he said that the 3rd step goes along with this week's sermon. He said the 3rd step to church growth is PERSECUTION!!
This wasn't some church growth putz; this was a man of God, a prophet to the people of God. He asked us if the Cross of Christ was really worth it. Was it worth it to proclaim the "WHOLE Gospel" of Jesus? In his sermon he spoke against prosperity gospel, weak and complacent Christianity, right wing unbiblical "Christian" stances, and a plethora of other topics that resonate within my very being. He called us to live out the whole Kingdom of God. To be a people of the kingdom, to live like Christ and to love like Christ. It was almost as if all of the sermons that I have ever preached were being compiled and spewing forth from this man's mouth (oh and there was enough time for that, he preached for 2- 2.5 hours).
My heart was encouraged. I'm not a lonely voice, crying out for the church to come back and be the people of God. It's not just my Houghton friends who are passionate citizens of the kingdom, no; God is doing a work throughout his church. He is raising up prophets and teachers to call his people back to be his people again.
I'm not sure if I'll make this church my home or not (especially not if I get a job working at another church) but it is nice to know that there are others who are proclaiming "prepare yet the way of the Lord."
____________________________________
Sunday evening I went to another "church" called communality in Lexington. I found this community because it is loosely affiliated with the C&MA. The nature of the community is very Doug Pagit-esq. It's shaped like a house-church and it is very involved with social agendas. I really enjoyed it and will probably continue to go (again, unless I get a job at church and have youth group on Sunday nights). I was late for the service, but got to talk to one of the leaders (an ATS grad) for about an hour after the service.
This group seems to be more concerned with Orthodoxy than Pagit's group (probably because most of the people are connected with the seminary, although there are a few people who are just part of the city), but I still have some concerns with it.
My first concern is that the community is not very intergenerational. Granted I don't know how intergenerational you can be when you have a few seminary students starting a house church of about 20 people. But then again, it has been going for 7 or 8 years and there are now 3 house churches that are part of "Communality." I just feel that not being multi-generational is dangerous. I know we have to start somewhere, and indeed the NT churches probably did as well, but we still must strive to be multi-generational.
My second concern is that the group is very involved in political (mostly social and environmental...aka hippie/liberal) concerns. I'm all for environmentalism, and social action (especially social action) but I'm not sure if tying a "church" so closely to various liberal (or conservative) political agendas is a good idea. Although the Kingdom of God has political ramifications, it is not primarily a political kingdom. As a future pastor I'm fine with my congregants participating as Christians in various groups, but to be linked as a "church" seems a bit compromising. We yell at the right-wing conservative church for doing this sort of thing and then we go and do the same on the left. I'm not completely decided on this issue, because I do believe that Christians can't be politically ignorant or apathetic, but as far as the extent of the connection to political agendas goes: I'm not sure.
My third concern is the use of the Charisms (gifts of the spirit) in the group. The group is a deliberate thrust to get away from the standard way of doing church, but in doing so are they limiting the use of the Charisms? Admittedly the "regular" church has exalted the role of the preacher and thus elevated those (preaching/teaching/ and maybe prophesy depending on your definition) gifts. But is this group allowing for those gifts to be used? There is no time for public exhortation so is one with the gift of prophecy/preaching going to be able to use their gift. What about other gifts? Are they used in this community or is it basically a community of like-minded, like-gifted teachers all teaching each other. If so, is it a good thing? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just questioning.
My fourth and final concern (for now) is doctrine. In typical small groups doctrine sort of gets brushed over. If there was a new convert or a young Christian, would they be formed doctrinally? I know that doctrinal language isn't essential, and that doctrine isn't the ultimate, but it is important. Would one learn the doctrine of the Trinity through something other than casual observance? When I posed this question Bill (the guy I talked with) answered that most of the community is theologically formed and they hold to more of a "social-trinitarianism" as per Multmon. I'm not really familiar with this so I'll have to do some more research before I decide what I think about it. Like I said doctrine isn't the ultimate thing, but it is important in spiritual formation, it will be interesting to see how this is approached as more people from non-seminary backgrounds enter the group.
Don't misunderstand me; I'm not bashing this group. These are just a few concerns that I have. I think the group is good and very incarnational in the city. There are a number of people in the city that have experienced grace and redemption through communality. There are also people in the community that wouldn't set foot in a regular church, people with mental disorders, without homes, and without people who care about them. These disenfranchised people have found a family in Communality.
I plan to continue to attend there, because the people are good, they are in pursuit of God and long to see him move. They long to be incarnational in the city and to the people they live among. This is a wonderful picture of the love of Christ. Maybe I'm too traditional in my ecclesiology, because I have so many reservations. I guess we'll see how my thoughts form as I continue to attend. I really am looking forward to next Sunday when we have a meal together and fellowship as a true community. I'm really hoping I can make it. I have a job "trial" with a pro audio production company next weekend in which we're going to Notre Dame to run sound for a huge show. The job would be really cool and give me a chance to be incarnational in a place that most Christians wouldn't get to go. We're scheduled to get back on Sat. So I should be able to make it to Communality, but there is always the chance that we'll be late or something. I doubt it though.
Hopefully you continue to find my ramblings enlightening and formational. I pray that one of the simple-minded things that I type may draw you closer to the Father this day.
I almost jumped up and shouted for joy in between Sunday school and the regular service when the little kids' class (5-10 yr olds) came in and recapped their lesson for the adults. They told us how they learned about the Trinity, yes the blessed and neglected doctrine of the Godhead. They explained how each member is God, how they are united in will and in purpose, and substance (thought they didn't use those words) while functioning uniquely. This wasn't some cheesy; let's watch Veggie Tales Sunday school class... No this was teaching kids doctrine while focusing on the practical implications of the doctrine. The kids seemed to understand it and to realize that it's who God is and how God relates to them in each person. Praise the Lord!!
After the singing the pastor got up to speak and started by saying that he had read an article lately that talked about 7 steps for Church Growth. He said that he didn't know it but they basically were the same as what he had been preaching the last 3 weeks. I thought to myself, "here we go again." I was almost ready to tone him out when he said that the 3rd step goes along with this week's sermon. He said the 3rd step to church growth is PERSECUTION!!
This wasn't some church growth putz; this was a man of God, a prophet to the people of God. He asked us if the Cross of Christ was really worth it. Was it worth it to proclaim the "WHOLE Gospel" of Jesus? In his sermon he spoke against prosperity gospel, weak and complacent Christianity, right wing unbiblical "Christian" stances, and a plethora of other topics that resonate within my very being. He called us to live out the whole Kingdom of God. To be a people of the kingdom, to live like Christ and to love like Christ. It was almost as if all of the sermons that I have ever preached were being compiled and spewing forth from this man's mouth (oh and there was enough time for that, he preached for 2- 2.5 hours).
My heart was encouraged. I'm not a lonely voice, crying out for the church to come back and be the people of God. It's not just my Houghton friends who are passionate citizens of the kingdom, no; God is doing a work throughout his church. He is raising up prophets and teachers to call his people back to be his people again.
I'm not sure if I'll make this church my home or not (especially not if I get a job working at another church) but it is nice to know that there are others who are proclaiming "prepare yet the way of the Lord."
____________________________________
Sunday evening I went to another "church" called communality in Lexington. I found this community because it is loosely affiliated with the C&MA. The nature of the community is very Doug Pagit-esq. It's shaped like a house-church and it is very involved with social agendas. I really enjoyed it and will probably continue to go (again, unless I get a job at church and have youth group on Sunday nights). I was late for the service, but got to talk to one of the leaders (an ATS grad) for about an hour after the service.
This group seems to be more concerned with Orthodoxy than Pagit's group (probably because most of the people are connected with the seminary, although there are a few people who are just part of the city), but I still have some concerns with it.
My first concern is that the community is not very intergenerational. Granted I don't know how intergenerational you can be when you have a few seminary students starting a house church of about 20 people. But then again, it has been going for 7 or 8 years and there are now 3 house churches that are part of "Communality." I just feel that not being multi-generational is dangerous. I know we have to start somewhere, and indeed the NT churches probably did as well, but we still must strive to be multi-generational.
My second concern is that the group is very involved in political (mostly social and environmental...aka hippie/liberal) concerns. I'm all for environmentalism, and social action (especially social action) but I'm not sure if tying a "church" so closely to various liberal (or conservative) political agendas is a good idea. Although the Kingdom of God has political ramifications, it is not primarily a political kingdom. As a future pastor I'm fine with my congregants participating as Christians in various groups, but to be linked as a "church" seems a bit compromising. We yell at the right-wing conservative church for doing this sort of thing and then we go and do the same on the left. I'm not completely decided on this issue, because I do believe that Christians can't be politically ignorant or apathetic, but as far as the extent of the connection to political agendas goes: I'm not sure.
My third concern is the use of the Charisms (gifts of the spirit) in the group. The group is a deliberate thrust to get away from the standard way of doing church, but in doing so are they limiting the use of the Charisms? Admittedly the "regular" church has exalted the role of the preacher and thus elevated those (preaching/teaching/ and maybe prophesy depending on your definition) gifts. But is this group allowing for those gifts to be used? There is no time for public exhortation so is one with the gift of prophecy/preaching going to be able to use their gift. What about other gifts? Are they used in this community or is it basically a community of like-minded, like-gifted teachers all teaching each other. If so, is it a good thing? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just questioning.
My fourth and final concern (for now) is doctrine. In typical small groups doctrine sort of gets brushed over. If there was a new convert or a young Christian, would they be formed doctrinally? I know that doctrinal language isn't essential, and that doctrine isn't the ultimate, but it is important. Would one learn the doctrine of the Trinity through something other than casual observance? When I posed this question Bill (the guy I talked with) answered that most of the community is theologically formed and they hold to more of a "social-trinitarianism" as per Multmon. I'm not really familiar with this so I'll have to do some more research before I decide what I think about it. Like I said doctrine isn't the ultimate thing, but it is important in spiritual formation, it will be interesting to see how this is approached as more people from non-seminary backgrounds enter the group.
Don't misunderstand me; I'm not bashing this group. These are just a few concerns that I have. I think the group is good and very incarnational in the city. There are a number of people in the city that have experienced grace and redemption through communality. There are also people in the community that wouldn't set foot in a regular church, people with mental disorders, without homes, and without people who care about them. These disenfranchised people have found a family in Communality.
I plan to continue to attend there, because the people are good, they are in pursuit of God and long to see him move. They long to be incarnational in the city and to the people they live among. This is a wonderful picture of the love of Christ. Maybe I'm too traditional in my ecclesiology, because I have so many reservations. I guess we'll see how my thoughts form as I continue to attend. I really am looking forward to next Sunday when we have a meal together and fellowship as a true community. I'm really hoping I can make it. I have a job "trial" with a pro audio production company next weekend in which we're going to Notre Dame to run sound for a huge show. The job would be really cool and give me a chance to be incarnational in a place that most Christians wouldn't get to go. We're scheduled to get back on Sat. So I should be able to make it to Communality, but there is always the chance that we'll be late or something. I doubt it though.
Hopefully you continue to find my ramblings enlightening and formational. I pray that one of the simple-minded things that I type may draw you closer to the Father this day.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Church Experiment: A Charismatic Ministry
I made it. Yep that's right I'm living in KY now. I don't have internet in my apartment yet so this post will have to be short as I'm writing it from the library. I'm not sure if it's possible for me to be short, because I like to ramble but I'll try.
I went to church on thursday evening in a small building in Wilmore that had a sign out front that said "a charismatic ministry." Being the charismatic that I am I decided to see what it was like even though I hadn't asked anyone about it yet.
I walked in the small building and was greeted by very friendly people. The service began with singing some choruses (none of which I had ever heard before) and little jumping up and down/dancing (not on my part mind you, I'm a good Wesleyan... er... C&MA or whatever).
The offering was to be next, but before that could take place the pastor asked us to turn to a certain Psalm. He then gave a little mini-sermon on the Psalm and told us how God didn't want any of us to be in debt and that he would give us all sorts of things. It sounded a little like Larry Burkett.
After the offering we sang another song and were treated to a sermon. During the sermon my discomfort grew from mild to severe and I didn't know what to do. Should I cry? Should I laugh? Should I walk out, or should I stand up and rebuke this man for his false teaching? I chose the easy way out and sat in my pew and listened. Yes, I know, I punked out.
The sermon's main thrust was from Hebrews 3 or 4 where it calls Jesus the High Priest of our profession (KJV). The word profession, or homo-legomena (GK - same words) as the pastor liked to refer to it, was the key point. You see, we have to say words, audible words to receive things from God. If we don't say them then we don't receive. We don't receive salvation if we don't speak it audibly (I guess Jesus doesn't really love the mute people of the world), we can't receive healing if we don't speak it audibly (the mute people can't even be healed then... that sucks) and we can't receive blessings if we don't speak it audibly.
God doesn't desire us to be poor or sick, we just don't tap into his blessings because we don't speak it. We don't use the "same words."
In the sermon the Pastor also said a bunch of other things that disturbed me. He reminded us that God has exalted his word above his name, that we have more dominion than Jesus because we're on earth and we can speak the words and Jesus is in heaven, and that my physical body doesn't really matter because I'm a spiritual being (yeah for dualism).
He also demonstrated how we can be healed if we're sick. How you may ask? Say to yourself (outloud) various phrases such as:
"by his stripes I am healed"
"I'm not sick"
"I'm the healthiest person alive"
"I'm healed"
"I don't have (insert illness here)."
You also have to say these phrases (or similar ones) multiple times, it isn't enough just to say them once, it has to go on for as long as the illness continues.
The same holds true for money, if you need money just say phrases of blessing and provision. Then you'll receive and live it out.
This teaching makes me sick! I"m not saying that I don't believe in healing and God's provision, because I do. I truly believe that "by his stripes we are healed" (both spiritually and physically) and I believe that God does provide for us. I especially rely on these things as my Grandpa has lung cancer and the only hope is a miracle, and as I relocate myself down here following God with school loans and rent payments.
I believe in these things, but to reduce it to merely saying positive words to yourself is absurd. To downplay to role of Jesus and the glory God is due is just blatant Heresy or blasphemy.
I don't know why God chooses to heal some and not others, I can't explain why the majority of the church lacks power and signs of the kingdom like miracles and love. I long to see these things, but to take the stance of the above church is just dumb. What about God's heart for the poor and the downtrodden? What about giving of ourselves to others? What about healing in a community so that it is truly a witness and a sign, rather than just positive thinking?
I have never experienced so much false teaching from a church that I attended. I was truly disgusted. Although there was one bright spot. Even though there was false teaching, I truly felt that some (not all) but some of the 15 or so people in the church were my sisters and brothers in Christ. Some of them are truly seeking after God, but they are being led astray by false teachers.
May God purge his church of false teachers and false prophets and renew his bride to be pure and spotless in his sight.
May you be blessed with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the Power of Christ, and the Love of the Father today my friends!
I went to church on thursday evening in a small building in Wilmore that had a sign out front that said "a charismatic ministry." Being the charismatic that I am I decided to see what it was like even though I hadn't asked anyone about it yet.
I walked in the small building and was greeted by very friendly people. The service began with singing some choruses (none of which I had ever heard before) and little jumping up and down/dancing (not on my part mind you, I'm a good Wesleyan... er... C&MA or whatever).
The offering was to be next, but before that could take place the pastor asked us to turn to a certain Psalm. He then gave a little mini-sermon on the Psalm and told us how God didn't want any of us to be in debt and that he would give us all sorts of things. It sounded a little like Larry Burkett.
After the offering we sang another song and were treated to a sermon. During the sermon my discomfort grew from mild to severe and I didn't know what to do. Should I cry? Should I laugh? Should I walk out, or should I stand up and rebuke this man for his false teaching? I chose the easy way out and sat in my pew and listened. Yes, I know, I punked out.
The sermon's main thrust was from Hebrews 3 or 4 where it calls Jesus the High Priest of our profession (KJV). The word profession, or homo-legomena (GK - same words) as the pastor liked to refer to it, was the key point. You see, we have to say words, audible words to receive things from God. If we don't say them then we don't receive. We don't receive salvation if we don't speak it audibly (I guess Jesus doesn't really love the mute people of the world), we can't receive healing if we don't speak it audibly (the mute people can't even be healed then... that sucks) and we can't receive blessings if we don't speak it audibly.
God doesn't desire us to be poor or sick, we just don't tap into his blessings because we don't speak it. We don't use the "same words."
In the sermon the Pastor also said a bunch of other things that disturbed me. He reminded us that God has exalted his word above his name, that we have more dominion than Jesus because we're on earth and we can speak the words and Jesus is in heaven, and that my physical body doesn't really matter because I'm a spiritual being (yeah for dualism).
He also demonstrated how we can be healed if we're sick. How you may ask? Say to yourself (outloud) various phrases such as:
"by his stripes I am healed"
"I'm not sick"
"I'm the healthiest person alive"
"I'm healed"
"I don't have (insert illness here)."
You also have to say these phrases (or similar ones) multiple times, it isn't enough just to say them once, it has to go on for as long as the illness continues.
The same holds true for money, if you need money just say phrases of blessing and provision. Then you'll receive and live it out.
This teaching makes me sick! I"m not saying that I don't believe in healing and God's provision, because I do. I truly believe that "by his stripes we are healed" (both spiritually and physically) and I believe that God does provide for us. I especially rely on these things as my Grandpa has lung cancer and the only hope is a miracle, and as I relocate myself down here following God with school loans and rent payments.
I believe in these things, but to reduce it to merely saying positive words to yourself is absurd. To downplay to role of Jesus and the glory God is due is just blatant Heresy or blasphemy.
I don't know why God chooses to heal some and not others, I can't explain why the majority of the church lacks power and signs of the kingdom like miracles and love. I long to see these things, but to take the stance of the above church is just dumb. What about God's heart for the poor and the downtrodden? What about giving of ourselves to others? What about healing in a community so that it is truly a witness and a sign, rather than just positive thinking?
I have never experienced so much false teaching from a church that I attended. I was truly disgusted. Although there was one bright spot. Even though there was false teaching, I truly felt that some (not all) but some of the 15 or so people in the church were my sisters and brothers in Christ. Some of them are truly seeking after God, but they are being led astray by false teachers.
May God purge his church of false teachers and false prophets and renew his bride to be pure and spotless in his sight.
May you be blessed with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the Power of Christ, and the Love of the Father today my friends!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Reflection after visiting with the Grandparents
Today I drove over to Shinglehouse to visit with both my Grandpa and Grandma Howard and Grandpa and Grandma Stanley before I leave for Kentucky. I was prepared for the standard questions and dialogue and some new topics, as my Grandpa Howard was just diagnosed with in-operable lung cancer (so please be praying), but there is one profound thing that I came away with after it was all said and done.
I realized that, although I have studied theology and would consider myself educated in the things of God (or at least what humanity says about God), nothing...absolutely nothing can compare with a life of pursuing God and enjoying intimacy with him.
So often I think that I can learn so much by just having coffee with a wonderful exegete, or theologian, and while that may be true, I can learn just as much if not more by spending a day conversing with saints of the church who have spent their entire lives pursuing God. There is so much peace and love that exudes from my grandparents, they know and have tasted suffering yet remain faithful knowing that God is in sovereign and in control (sorry my openness friends, but Open Theism doesn't cut it here). I admire their steadfastness to pray, even when things don't always go well. These are the saints of the church, and I bless the name of God for the gift of godly grandparents.
This is what the writer of Hebrews was talking about when he or she described the "great cloud of witnesses" yes the cloud extends to the early church and to the Israelite fathers and mothers but we must not forget that there is a generation that is still with us that can teach us so much about life and about godliness.
I know that this seems obvious... because to a certain degree it is. In fact I've even spoken to an elderly group about this passage in Hebrews and said something similar to the above paragraph, but so often I forget it. So often I think that I can only learn from books and professors... no true spiritual formation comes from intergenerational community, it comes from living with those who have gone before us and have seen the mighty works of the Lord. They can recount his deeds to us and speak to us from experience. We as a generation must not forget them.
It seems that these thoughts go well with my previous post, we cannot do theology outside of the community of faith. On top of that, we cannot do theology outside of intergenerational community. We must be in constant dialogue with the people of God, the people of all ages that life in the faith. I know this talk of dialogue and community sounds a little like arch-heretic Doug Pagit, but it is essential. Although we can't let community and dialogue trump scripture in our development of theology, we do have to let it have a formational voice. I guess what I'm proposing is more or less the Wesleyan quadrilateral with emphasis on scripture and tradition, so I should probably shut up, because I'm pretty sure that Wesley developed a pretty sweet thing and I agree with it a lot.
So with that said, my rant has ended and my thoughts shared about how a day with my grandparents reminds me of the essential nature of community in the body. I feel blessed to still have them and learn from them everytime I talk to them. The very words they speak in peace when you know they are going through inner pain and anguish are a lesson in themselves. I feel I have so much to learn, I only hope that when I go to seminary I can get plugged into a great intergenerational church that will form me in some shadow of the way my grandparents have helped form me.
Blessings to you all!
I realized that, although I have studied theology and would consider myself educated in the things of God (or at least what humanity says about God), nothing...absolutely nothing can compare with a life of pursuing God and enjoying intimacy with him.
So often I think that I can learn so much by just having coffee with a wonderful exegete, or theologian, and while that may be true, I can learn just as much if not more by spending a day conversing with saints of the church who have spent their entire lives pursuing God. There is so much peace and love that exudes from my grandparents, they know and have tasted suffering yet remain faithful knowing that God is in sovereign and in control (sorry my openness friends, but Open Theism doesn't cut it here). I admire their steadfastness to pray, even when things don't always go well. These are the saints of the church, and I bless the name of God for the gift of godly grandparents.
This is what the writer of Hebrews was talking about when he or she described the "great cloud of witnesses" yes the cloud extends to the early church and to the Israelite fathers and mothers but we must not forget that there is a generation that is still with us that can teach us so much about life and about godliness.
I know that this seems obvious... because to a certain degree it is. In fact I've even spoken to an elderly group about this passage in Hebrews and said something similar to the above paragraph, but so often I forget it. So often I think that I can only learn from books and professors... no true spiritual formation comes from intergenerational community, it comes from living with those who have gone before us and have seen the mighty works of the Lord. They can recount his deeds to us and speak to us from experience. We as a generation must not forget them.
It seems that these thoughts go well with my previous post, we cannot do theology outside of the community of faith. On top of that, we cannot do theology outside of intergenerational community. We must be in constant dialogue with the people of God, the people of all ages that life in the faith. I know this talk of dialogue and community sounds a little like arch-heretic Doug Pagit, but it is essential. Although we can't let community and dialogue trump scripture in our development of theology, we do have to let it have a formational voice. I guess what I'm proposing is more or less the Wesleyan quadrilateral with emphasis on scripture and tradition, so I should probably shut up, because I'm pretty sure that Wesley developed a pretty sweet thing and I agree with it a lot.
So with that said, my rant has ended and my thoughts shared about how a day with my grandparents reminds me of the essential nature of community in the body. I feel blessed to still have them and learn from them everytime I talk to them. The very words they speak in peace when you know they are going through inner pain and anguish are a lesson in themselves. I feel I have so much to learn, I only hope that when I go to seminary I can get plugged into a great intergenerational church that will form me in some shadow of the way my grandparents have helped form me.
Blessings to you all!
Monday, August 08, 2005
Where have I been?
You may be asking yourself this question, I know that as look back on the past month I find it hard to trace where I've been. Yes, it has been a month since I last posted, and no, I am not neglecting my blog (life isn't busy enough for that yet). The past month I've been at Mahaffey Camp , my district church camp in Mahaffey, PA, the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and spending some time visiting some good friends before I leave for seminary.
So how can I give a complete synopsis of my theological thoughts from a whole month, especially a month packed full of hearing preaching, praying, worshiping through song, and conversing with theologically astute friends. The answer... I can't. Thus, I fear that church camp will get touched on only briefly (since it is farthest in the past), and some of the conversations I've had will be written about sometime in the future.
On to Mahaffey!
I must preface this section by letting you all know that there is an old Alliance (Christian and Missionary Alliance - for those of you not of the true faith) adage that declares "You can't get to heaven until you've been to Mahaffey Camp." I have always interpreted this statement to mean that Mahaffey is necessary for salvation because it is a place where one can find true holiness or truly meet God, however recently some have used the statement to equate Mahaffey (with all of it's rustic virtues) to purgatory. I for one think that the latter interpretation of this statement is bogus, but whatever, you will always have those liberal theologians trying to make things mean what they don't. Oh and for those of you who don't believe that this statement is really said, just ask Drs. Charles and Darlene Bressler, they know how it is, and happily they are both going to heaven (although Charles is one of those "liberal theologians").
Camp was good, I spent a lot of time visiting with family, and explaining a few of my various theological stances to them, such as: "Why I use to be against women in ministry and now am zealously in favor of it," "Why I'm a charismatic," "What the gift of tongues is as far as I understand," "What The Openness of God is about," "Why I am so cynical," "Why I embrace the Catholic and Orthodox Churches," and "What soul sleep is and why I think I might be in favor of it."
Although, some may find the above questions a bit tiresome, I personally loved it. I love engaging and being asked questions about my varying theological positions because it forces me to look at them and examine if I truly do believe them.
Aside from visiting family, and discussing the above and various other topics, camp consited of attending prayer meetings and services, and starting both The Openness of God by Pinnock et al. and Who is God in Three Persons by John Tyson. I didn't finish either of these books at camp so I won't comment on them yet.
Although the services were good (the evening very good and the morning so so) I still felt like there wasn't much freedom or hope for the C&MA for most of camp. This changed when I was introduced to the evening speaker and he prayed (and what some might call prophesied) over me. The next night he asked "Brother Ben" to close the service but since I didn't know he was referring to me I stayed back. Ooops, my bad.
All in all camp was good, I'm still a little dismayed at some of the Alliance's closed mindedness (specifically towards women in ministry and anti-charismaticism) but I also realize that there are pockets of pastors who view things the same way that I do, this is encouraging and I am still hoping to be ordained C&MA.
On to IHOP!
I left camp a day or two early to come back and pack and get ready to go to the International House of Prayer (not pancakes, but still called IHOP) with a very close friend. This was a great trip. Before hitting Kansas City (where IHOP is) we stopped in Lawrence, Kansas so I could see yet another good friend and she could visit her sister-in-law. After a great time at our respective places, we arrived in Kansas City without a place to stay, luckily we ran into a Houghton grad and he let us crash at his apt.
Now with all the prefacing to this story done, I'll share my thoughts on IHOP. I journaled a lot while I was there so I will probably just include some mildly edited journal entries.
8/2/05 - 8:15pm
8/3/05 - 1:28am
8/3/05 - 8:00pm
Ok, so that is some of what was going through my head at IHOP, I know it has a little different tone that what most of my blogs do, but that's because I hadn't intended anyone to read it, but I am too lazy to rewrite it all so you get what you get.
I know these thoughts tended to be a bit critical, but please do not mistake me - I truly believe that place to be a house of prayer for all nations. I was delighted to see a wide range of ethnicities represented, and a world-focus in the prayer time. A lot of it was a new experience for me so it took some getting use to, but it is a place filled with godly people. I really didn't want to leave.
I came into this trip to IHOP not knowing what to expect, I kept hoping to see some "great miraculous thing" but I didn't. God however did speak to me, and challenged me to think about a lot of things. He also softened my heart and guided me to pray for people I normally wouldn't have or people I don't even know. I don't think I've ever prayed for others that much in my life, it taught me a lot about my focus. I spent a lot of time on my knees interceding for people, for their healing both physically and spiritually. I don't say this to make myself sound awesome, but just because that's what was going on with me.
It was also psuedo-monastic, in that the pace of life was slowed and really the only thing to do was to pray, and worship (not that the two are mutually exclusive by any means). This was such a good time of just resting and allowing God to speak to me before I take off and spend (Lord willing) 3+ years of my life pursuing a degree given to me by humans. No, I'm not completely knocking education, I'm just saying that this will help me keep my perspective and realize that theology cannot, and must not, be done apart from the people of God and intimate experience with the Most High. Any theology that is done by a person who isn't intimately in love with the person of Jesus Christ should be completely disregarded. They have no business telling the people of God how things are or how they should think. I know most of you who actually read this would agree with me on this issue, but nonetheless it's my soapbox for the night. We must never allow theology to be removed form the Church. One of the things that struck me about Tyson's book (which was awesome by the way) was that he constantly referred to the early fathers (and some mothers) as "Pastor-theologians." That's right, the writers of our creeds were not people sitting in ivory towers, trying to create a higher understanding of God in fancy words, no, these were people who lived and struggle as pastors. The main concern of these people was not "how can I 'one-up' the other theologians" rather it was "how can I correctly teach about Christ so that people may pursue him rightly." The creeds were forged in the fires of persecution and heresy. True theology, essential theology is that which we will hold onto in the face of certain death. I wouldn't die for my Arminian persuasion, or even my stance against the Church Growth Movement, but I would gladly give my life 100 times over (and to some exctend I pray that I may be found worthy) to defend the nature of Christ or the Godhead or to proclaim the gospel of Christ.
Yes, I have some theological cautions with IHOP, but when have I not had theological cautions about anything? A lot of what I am not a big fan of are valid biblical interpretations and they have very good reasons for doing.
There are some more theological issues that came to mind while at IHOP and they will be addressed in the future but for now I just wanted ot post what was going on and how God was using it to spiritually form me. Fear not, good friends, my theological ponderings will return and will hopefully be beneficially to you all and cause you to press into God, but for now I hope this encourages you, makes you think and still causes you to press into God.
I hope these thoughts cause you to think about what you believe, to intercede for others, and to meditate on the glorious Trinity.
Remember, that he will return to us and so I pray that all of us would press into him like there is nothing else that matters.
Let us press into him and he will heal us, bind our wounds and restore his church.
So how can I give a complete synopsis of my theological thoughts from a whole month, especially a month packed full of hearing preaching, praying, worshiping through song, and conversing with theologically astute friends. The answer... I can't. Thus, I fear that church camp will get touched on only briefly (since it is farthest in the past), and some of the conversations I've had will be written about sometime in the future.
On to Mahaffey!
I must preface this section by letting you all know that there is an old Alliance (Christian and Missionary Alliance - for those of you not of the true faith) adage that declares "You can't get to heaven until you've been to Mahaffey Camp." I have always interpreted this statement to mean that Mahaffey is necessary for salvation because it is a place where one can find true holiness or truly meet God, however recently some have used the statement to equate Mahaffey (with all of it's rustic virtues) to purgatory. I for one think that the latter interpretation of this statement is bogus, but whatever, you will always have those liberal theologians trying to make things mean what they don't. Oh and for those of you who don't believe that this statement is really said, just ask Drs. Charles and Darlene Bressler, they know how it is, and happily they are both going to heaven (although Charles is one of those "liberal theologians").
Camp was good, I spent a lot of time visiting with family, and explaining a few of my various theological stances to them, such as: "Why I use to be against women in ministry and now am zealously in favor of it," "Why I'm a charismatic," "What the gift of tongues is as far as I understand," "What The Openness of God is about," "Why I am so cynical," "Why I embrace the Catholic and Orthodox Churches," and "What soul sleep is and why I think I might be in favor of it."
Although, some may find the above questions a bit tiresome, I personally loved it. I love engaging and being asked questions about my varying theological positions because it forces me to look at them and examine if I truly do believe them.
Aside from visiting family, and discussing the above and various other topics, camp consited of attending prayer meetings and services, and starting both The Openness of God by Pinnock et al. and Who is God in Three Persons by John Tyson. I didn't finish either of these books at camp so I won't comment on them yet.
Although the services were good (the evening very good and the morning so so) I still felt like there wasn't much freedom or hope for the C&MA for most of camp. This changed when I was introduced to the evening speaker and he prayed (and what some might call prophesied) over me. The next night he asked "Brother Ben" to close the service but since I didn't know he was referring to me I stayed back. Ooops, my bad.
All in all camp was good, I'm still a little dismayed at some of the Alliance's closed mindedness (specifically towards women in ministry and anti-charismaticism) but I also realize that there are pockets of pastors who view things the same way that I do, this is encouraging and I am still hoping to be ordained C&MA.
On to IHOP!
I left camp a day or two early to come back and pack and get ready to go to the International House of Prayer (not pancakes, but still called IHOP) with a very close friend. This was a great trip. Before hitting Kansas City (where IHOP is) we stopped in Lawrence, Kansas so I could see yet another good friend and she could visit her sister-in-law. After a great time at our respective places, we arrived in Kansas City without a place to stay, luckily we ran into a Houghton grad and he let us crash at his apt.
Now with all the prefacing to this story done, I'll share my thoughts on IHOP. I journaled a lot while I was there so I will probably just include some mildly edited journal entries.
8/2/05 - 8:15pm
I feel a little lost sometimes because I'm not always sure what's going on but I do feel a spirit of peace [only I spelled it piece in my journal ha ha] in this place. There are a few things I'm not a fan of but nonetheless I think this is a good place. I'm not a big fan of the Israel emphasis that is a huge focus. I'm not sure what 'prophetic singers' are. There is a really strong emphasis on the bridal paradigm, there is communion stuff in the back corner, and it feels like the sacrament is 'just there.' The desire for miraculous stuff is very prevalent, but at the same time I desire these things too.... There is a strong individualistic push, but it is coupled by nontraditional corporate expressions.
I don't want to sound overly negative, this is a good place to meditate and soak, but much of it is just different.
8/3/05 - 1:28am
I really don't like it when they all speak in tongues at the same time. It just doesn't feel good to me, I know I shouldn't place so much emphasis on feeling, but often my 'gut feeling' is right. I still believe that these are godly people and that this is a godly place, but for some reason that just turns me off... Maybe part of my reservations are because its new to me....
They really emphasize the prophetic a lot here, which I think is cool, but it seems like our working definitions of prophet are different. I need to explore my ideas better so that I can decide which seems to fit more.
I've only heard him [Mike Bickle] a little bit, but what he said was good. He gave instructions for the prayer mic to the kids from the conference and made sure they knew that although he gets loud when he prays they don't have to. He made it clear that it is not volume or intensity of voice that makes God hear us. I thought this [to be] pretty good and solid.
Plus it was awesome to see the kids getting involved
8/3/05 - 8:00pm
I just finished Tyson's book on the trinity today. Oh how I love reading the ancient Trinitarian creeds of the church!.
My heart is continually broken when I think on the blessed Godhead... I know it is true not just based on creedal affirmation or biblical readings, but also from experience! The Spirit testifies to my spirit the greatness and blessedness of the trinity! When I meditate on the Godhead I am filled with wonder and awe, my heart burns with intimacy and worship of the Holy transcendent Godhead...
When my heart thinks on the Trinity I can hardly keep from claiming that my heart is 'strangely warmed'
Ok, so that is some of what was going through my head at IHOP, I know it has a little different tone that what most of my blogs do, but that's because I hadn't intended anyone to read it, but I am too lazy to rewrite it all so you get what you get.
I know these thoughts tended to be a bit critical, but please do not mistake me - I truly believe that place to be a house of prayer for all nations. I was delighted to see a wide range of ethnicities represented, and a world-focus in the prayer time. A lot of it was a new experience for me so it took some getting use to, but it is a place filled with godly people. I really didn't want to leave.
I came into this trip to IHOP not knowing what to expect, I kept hoping to see some "great miraculous thing" but I didn't. God however did speak to me, and challenged me to think about a lot of things. He also softened my heart and guided me to pray for people I normally wouldn't have or people I don't even know. I don't think I've ever prayed for others that much in my life, it taught me a lot about my focus. I spent a lot of time on my knees interceding for people, for their healing both physically and spiritually. I don't say this to make myself sound awesome, but just because that's what was going on with me.
It was also psuedo-monastic, in that the pace of life was slowed and really the only thing to do was to pray, and worship (not that the two are mutually exclusive by any means). This was such a good time of just resting and allowing God to speak to me before I take off and spend (Lord willing) 3+ years of my life pursuing a degree given to me by humans. No, I'm not completely knocking education, I'm just saying that this will help me keep my perspective and realize that theology cannot, and must not, be done apart from the people of God and intimate experience with the Most High. Any theology that is done by a person who isn't intimately in love with the person of Jesus Christ should be completely disregarded. They have no business telling the people of God how things are or how they should think. I know most of you who actually read this would agree with me on this issue, but nonetheless it's my soapbox for the night. We must never allow theology to be removed form the Church. One of the things that struck me about Tyson's book (which was awesome by the way) was that he constantly referred to the early fathers (and some mothers) as "Pastor-theologians." That's right, the writers of our creeds were not people sitting in ivory towers, trying to create a higher understanding of God in fancy words, no, these were people who lived and struggle as pastors. The main concern of these people was not "how can I 'one-up' the other theologians" rather it was "how can I correctly teach about Christ so that people may pursue him rightly." The creeds were forged in the fires of persecution and heresy. True theology, essential theology is that which we will hold onto in the face of certain death. I wouldn't die for my Arminian persuasion, or even my stance against the Church Growth Movement, but I would gladly give my life 100 times over (and to some exctend I pray that I may be found worthy) to defend the nature of Christ or the Godhead or to proclaim the gospel of Christ.
Yes, I have some theological cautions with IHOP, but when have I not had theological cautions about anything? A lot of what I am not a big fan of are valid biblical interpretations and they have very good reasons for doing.
There are some more theological issues that came to mind while at IHOP and they will be addressed in the future but for now I just wanted ot post what was going on and how God was using it to spiritually form me. Fear not, good friends, my theological ponderings will return and will hopefully be beneficially to you all and cause you to press into God, but for now I hope this encourages you, makes you think and still causes you to press into God.
I hope these thoughts cause you to think about what you believe, to intercede for others, and to meditate on the glorious Trinity.
Remember, that he will return to us and so I pray that all of us would press into him like there is nothing else that matters.
Let us press into him and he will heal us, bind our wounds and restore his church.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
You can sleep when your dead....
...or so one of my favorite sayings goes. But the question I have tonight, albeit somewhat nonsensical, is "Can We?" or better yet "Do we?"
I'm not talking about the theology of soul-sleep, of which I am a fan (at least until I research it more), no I am talking about sleep in heaven. Will there be sleeping in heaven? Will we need to sleep in heaven? Will we want to sleep in heaven? I suppose I could turn to the scriptures and offer a well thought out discourse on "NO" or "YES," but why bother. I just like to ask the question. I don't know if I really want an answer or if it really matters that much, but it is an interesting question that came up tonight in a conversation with a friend.
It seems to me that there are two types of people, those who like sleep a lot and would do it for fun and those who only sleep because they can't function without it and only sleep as little as possible. I personally fall into the latter category. I'm not a big fan of sleep, I only sleep because I have to. Yes that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I don't think it's awfully far from the truth.
I personally wouldn't want to sleep in heaven, I would want to fill my eternity (ha ha as if that could happen) with all the wonderful things of heaven. Not that heaven is about me by any means (and thus this whole argument is futile, but for amusement's sake we will continue).
But some of my friends, and my sister for sure, who like sleep a lot more than I, will surely like to spend some of their eternity sleeping while basking in the glorious light of the lamb. This sounds like a good idea, but then again heaven doesn't seem to be about us... or at least our wants... that is unless your a Christian hedonist (cf: John Piper) and then maybe it is all about your desires because they are fulfilled in glorifying Christ.
So will there be sleep in heaven? I don't know and I'm not sure that I care to know. All I know is that I will get to be with my glorious Lord Jesus Christ and that is enough for me. Sleep or no sleep it doesn't matter, but I still think it's a fun question to think about.
Needless to say this post is a little trite and light-hearted, maybe it's a good change from some of the others, maybe not, but either way this type of post will probably be a rarity. I'll try to keep my more serious thoughts on here, but every now and then I'll try to lighten the mood.
Blessings, and may you all long for heaven and the return of our King.
I'm not talking about the theology of soul-sleep, of which I am a fan (at least until I research it more), no I am talking about sleep in heaven. Will there be sleeping in heaven? Will we need to sleep in heaven? Will we want to sleep in heaven? I suppose I could turn to the scriptures and offer a well thought out discourse on "NO" or "YES," but why bother. I just like to ask the question. I don't know if I really want an answer or if it really matters that much, but it is an interesting question that came up tonight in a conversation with a friend.
It seems to me that there are two types of people, those who like sleep a lot and would do it for fun and those who only sleep because they can't function without it and only sleep as little as possible. I personally fall into the latter category. I'm not a big fan of sleep, I only sleep because I have to. Yes that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I don't think it's awfully far from the truth.
I personally wouldn't want to sleep in heaven, I would want to fill my eternity (ha ha as if that could happen) with all the wonderful things of heaven. Not that heaven is about me by any means (and thus this whole argument is futile, but for amusement's sake we will continue).
But some of my friends, and my sister for sure, who like sleep a lot more than I, will surely like to spend some of their eternity sleeping while basking in the glorious light of the lamb. This sounds like a good idea, but then again heaven doesn't seem to be about us... or at least our wants... that is unless your a Christian hedonist (cf: John Piper) and then maybe it is all about your desires because they are fulfilled in glorifying Christ.
So will there be sleep in heaven? I don't know and I'm not sure that I care to know. All I know is that I will get to be with my glorious Lord Jesus Christ and that is enough for me. Sleep or no sleep it doesn't matter, but I still think it's a fun question to think about.
Needless to say this post is a little trite and light-hearted, maybe it's a good change from some of the others, maybe not, but either way this type of post will probably be a rarity. I'll try to keep my more serious thoughts on here, but every now and then I'll try to lighten the mood.
Blessings, and may you all long for heaven and the return of our King.
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