There is a Jesus who is, and the Jesus we have seemed to create.

What I mean is this: the more I read the Gospels I’m more confused because the Jesus who is, and the Jesus we claim seem to be two entirely different people.

The Jesus I read in the Gospels appeared to the outcasts, the misfits, and tore down the barriers of exclusion yet in our very midst Jesus has been very much sanitized.

I look at the Church and I don’t see a wild, untamed people. I see a very content, very rich, stable bunch who will confess Jesus with their lips but do not live a life worthy of what they are called to.

Not all of us are called to go to Africa, or start an organization that fights poverty but we all are called to make disciples and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Breaking that down, we’re basically called to teach others who God and Jesus are and to send them out to do the same.

The idea of living a life where telling God’s story is paramount isn’t easy. It means sacrifice, it means reaching out to those who need Jesus most, it means popping the bubble of our comfort zone, it means taking time to serve others when they need us, it means that in all we do, we do it as if Jesus Himself were doing it through us.

I feel slightly melancholy about this because I was supposed to teach a class starting this week about sharing our faith. The very thing we are called to do and not a single person showed up and only one person signed up. It depresses me not for me, but for the kingdom. The fact that there is an opportunity for others to learn about sharing the very faith that has supposedly changed their lives and no one shows up disheartens me. In a church of 500 people, not a single one shows up.

What does this mean? Maybe it’s a fluke. Maybe it wasn’t promoted well. Maybe the rain scared some people away. These are all valid reasons.

Then I look at the gospels. People were desperate to see and hear this wild man. This man sent from God. Nothing stopped them. Their faith in Him caused them to take apart their neighbor’s roof so that their friend could be healed, they travelled great distances because they were desperate for a Savior.

I don’t see this great desperation for a Savior much. There are times I do but it’s very rare. I find something wrong with this picture. I long to see a people who hunger and thirst after the wild, untamed Jesus I read about.

Everything must change….

For about a year now, I’ve been hearing stories about this thing called “the emerging church”.  I think I first came across the term in an article when I was flipping through an issue of the Mennonite Weekly Review.  I remember reading the article, but I don’t think I really paid much attention to it – at least not until a friend, who was on her way to an emerging church conference, sent the article my way for a second time.  So I read it again.

To be honest, I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

My impression was that there was some group of Mennonites somewhere who were trying to live an authentically Christian life, trying to keep Christianity relevant to the 21st century, and forming ties with other Christians from outside the Mennonite tradition in order that they could learn from one another.  And I thought, “Good for them.  Whenever people are finding relevant  and vibrant ways to be Christ-like, I’m all for that.”

But I didn’t really understand why they thought that they (either these mennos or the others with whom they were forming ties) needed some new catchy label like “emerging” (and believe me – “emerging” is not the only catchy word being thrown around).

So my friend lent me a DVD of Richard Rohr, a Catholic priest and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, speaking about the emerging church.  I must say that I was very favorably impressed, and it was my intent to blog about it.  Alas – it has now been too many months, and I can’t remember enough to say anything substantial.  However, it was my overall impression that Fr. Rohr did a good job of emphasizing how the Church tends to bicker over relatively minor things, while tending to neglect the important commonalities that we share.  He indicated that the emerging church isn’t trying to create new structures, but rather to reform the existing ones.  In addition, he developed some creative ways to go about doing Church that would redirect the emphasis toward our shared values.

This kind of speech is edifying, and I always appreciate those who can articulate a clear vision for grace-filled Christian community and mission.  And yet there was still a disconnect for me – what was special about what he was saying that it deserved to be a movement?

On a whim, I decided to purchase A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren* from the Laurelville gift shop one weekend when my family was there.  Brian begins the book by describing the many reasons why you shouldn’t read it.  This seemed to confirm my less charitable perceptions – that these “emergents” just liked to hear themselves talk.  Then Ordinary Spouse pointed out that I write the same way…

* I hope to provide a more in-depth look at this book sometime in the future.  However, given the speed at which I move, I was concerned that it might take me a year or two to get around to it.  So I decided to mention it in this post first.

So I slogged through that introductory chapter and made my way through the rest of the book.  Brian lays out a vision for what this emerging church might look like, and I began to understand the significance of the emerging movement…

(We interrupt this discourse to bring you a disclaimer.  The author of this post has read one book by Brian McLaren and started to read a second.  He has managed to read snippets of other authors who are considered to be “emerging”.  In addition, he has no first-hand experience with communities that identify themselves as “emerging”.  Furthermore, any halfway motivated person can see from a quick Google search that the range of ideas about what constitutes “emerging” is fairly broad.  Therefore, to claim to speak with any authority on the “significance of the emerging movement” is completely uncalled for.  It’s unwise.  It’s misguided.  It’s just plain stupid.  Here goes anyway.)

It seems to me that the emerging church is motivated by a desire to get back to the person of Christ, to understand who he is and how his message is relevant today, and then to live into that message.  And that’s important – to really apply the way of Christ to one’s approach to life now.  In some ways, this is a very Anabaptist thing to do.  Anabaptists have always been about the centrality of Christ.  And so, this explains some my initial ambivalence about the whole movement.  Parts of this thinking is not new to me.  In fact, it comes naturally, as I believe it would to people who value historical Anabaptism and who are wondering about its relevance for the future.  And as I’ve been reading, I’ve learned that this kind of thinking has brought about many connections between Anabaptists and the broader Church – the kind of connections that were mentioned in that Mennonite Weekly Review article.  Furthermore, this focus on living out the way of Christ is (as I understand it) a shift of sorts for some other Christian groups.

But if I’ve come to understand my initial, blase reaction to the emerging church, I’ve also begun to understand how it informs (or reforms) my own Christian journey.  I talked above about a way of “thinking”.  In his book, Everything Must Change, Brian McLaren talks about “framing stories”.  These are the narratives that shape how we see the world, how we interact with it, and how we make decisions.  And one area where my framing story was incomplete and providing a mixed message was in my approach to scripture.  I was (and still am) influenced by a number of traditions: Anabaptist, of course, but probably also traditional protestant (whatever that is), evangelical, charismatic/pentecostal, and maybe even fundamentalist.  And it had become clear to me that these traditions weren’t always in agreement, weren’t always right, and were leaving me with an inconsistent approach to understanding the Bible.  It didn’t help that this wasn’t a topic that I thought much about during my time at Goshen (which is where I might have received some good guidance on the matter – but that’s another story).

Recently, I had come to a more comfortable place in my biblical understanding – one that averted a faith crisis of sorts – but it was still an uneven understanding.  However, when I read A Generous Orthodoxy, I encountered a subtle shift in interpretation, but one that (I think) will be life-giving and more holistic than my previous approaches.

Since I want to blog about that separately, I’m going to leave you wondering what I’m talking about.  Let me only say that a slight change in framing story or a small shift in the way that I read the Bible seems to have enormous possibilities for living out my life.  In some ways, I feel like I’ve been working on a puzzle.  I have all of the needed pieces in front of me, but all of a sudden I think I might have some sense of how to fit the pieces together to solve it.  Cool!

Another personal benefit is a new sense of the unity of the Church.  I’ve already mentioned that others were  building these bridges, but my reaction was rather “ho-hum”.  Now, however, I’m also getting excited by these ties.  Similarly, I gaining a greater appreciation for the strengths of various traditions.  (This was a major emphasis of A Generous Orthodoxy.)

One final benefit that I’ll mention is the encouragement that I receive when I witness how the emerging church lives out the way of Christ.  It is a generous way, filled with grace, humility, and hospitality.  There is so much for me to learn from it.

As an example, I’d like to point you to a story of someone who was denied communion when she went to visit her parents’ congregation.  The details aren’t given.  But look how her own congregation (a Lutheran group) responds when she returns home.  Now – my understanding of Lutheran eucharistic theology is that they consider the elements to contain the Real Presence of Christ.  This isn’t my understanding, but frankly, my understanding isn’t the point.  The point is that this person’s community saw a need and responded with grace.  And that is beautiful no matter what your theology is.  That’s the kind of Church that I want to be a part of.

pretty much sums up how i feel about the system we’re livin in. btw, sarah vaughan is one of the baddest vocalists in history.

At Lockerbie Central United Methodist, we have been going through the story of King David and his family.  This story concludes next week.

In the above video from the Everything Must Change tour and Work of the People, Brian Mclaren states that civilization is driven by the need for prosperity ,security, and equity. He calls this the “societal machine.”

Though words like “prosperity” and “security” might have negative connotations (sounds like a right-wing or even fascist campaign slogan), a good society makes sure that all people have access to these realities.

This week in the Hebrew Bible part of the Revised Common Lectionary (11th Sunday after Pentecost), King David dies after forty years on the throne and his son Solomon replaces him.  It is during this context that Solomon tells God:

3:9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

3:10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

This should be a good sign for the people of Israel; an opportunity for people to have access to genuine prosperity, equity, and security.

It turns out that Solomon falls down the deep pit that almost consumed his father. Deuteronomy 17 warns:

6But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Moses did not leave Egypt so that his ancestors would live under a Hebrew Pharoah in the promised land.  While David struggled with this, Solomon is destroyed by it.  He acquires great wealth and power at the expense of the people and he is the last King to rule over a united Judah and Israel.

This struggle between power for oneself and creating a just society is a central conversation in the bible.  Mclaren nails it when he talks about a good society being one that offers genuine and authentic security, prosperity, and equity.  Its one that all kings struggle with and Solomon’s decision to turn away from his God granted ability to “discern good from evil” has since become an an age old crisis.

Romans 12:1-2 says: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

A man living in East Africa by the name of Claude Nikondeha shared this: “…I realized that my entire life had been lived against the backdrop of genocide and violence, poverty and corruption. Over a million people died in my country in a series of genocides starting in 1959, and nearly a million in Rwanda, and in spite of huge amounts of foreign aid, our people remain poor, and many of them, hungry. This is the experience we all have shared….

“So much death, so much hatred and distrust between tribes, so much poverty, suffering, corruption, and injustice, and nothing ever really changed. Eventually I realized something. I had never heard a sermon that addressed these realities. Did God only care about our souls going to heaven after we died? Were our hungry bellies unimportant to God? Was God unconcerned about our crying sons and frightened daughters, our mothers hiding under beds, our fathers crouching by windows, unable to sleep because of gunfire? Or did God send Jesus to teach us how to avoid genocide by learning to love each other, how to overcome tribalism and poverty by following his path, how to deal with injustice and corruption, how to make a better life here on earth – here in East Africa?….

“Over the years, I have come to realize that something is wrong with the way we understand Jesus and the good news. Something is missing in the version of the Christian religion we received from the missionaries, which is the message we now preach ourselves. They told us how to go to heaven. But they left out an important detail. They didn’t tell us how the will of God could be done on earth. We need to learn what the message of Jesus says to our situation here in East Africa.”

Lately the Holy Spirit has been convicting me about money.  Money and capitalism.  Money, capitalism, and materialism.  I read Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution a little while back and it really caused me to think about the part that I play in the systems this country and world run on.  The systems idea is from Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change.  Brian talks about the Security System, Prosperity System, and the Equity System.  He talks about how they are broken and even more than that, suicidal.  These books have led me to ask the following questions of myself:

• How much money is stored up in my pantry in order to ensure I am provided for?
• Even if I am faithful in tithing because it is a good starting point have I landed there with the belief that the other 90% is mine to spend as I wish? 
• What am I doing with that 90%?
• While I cognitively know that buying things will not fulfill my desires for peace, security, and fulfillment in what ways do I do that very thing?
• What have I bought that has been produced by beautiful people all across the globe, mostly women and children, who are not compensated justly for their wages? 
• Am I clothed at the expense of others being naked?
• Am I content with enough or do I live under the capitalist manifesto of “more, more, more”?
• This product is cheap for me but at whose cost?
• Will I trust in deadbolts and car alarms or the Lord my God? (“Some trust in chariots and some in horses…”)
• Do I allow God to define me or do I allow myself to be defined in terms of how industrious and efficient I am?
• Why do we teach our children to not hit each other to resolve problems and then go to war because another country does something we don’t like?
• Why do we arm the rest of the world so we can “protect” ourselves?
• Is there hope that we can live another way?

The list could go on and on and on…

I am remorseful that I have contributed so much to the poverty and dehumanization of so many.  All for “the best deal.”  Yeah…if the best deal means I save $5 but thousands of people are enslaved to get it to me.  That doesn’t sound like the best deal to me.

Lord Jesus have mercy on me, a sinner.

I posted this as my Facebook status this evening: “Mary thinks that her church attendance fits the classical definition of insanity.” 

Let me explain.

The classical definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.

You should know that a good bit of my current thinking about church (and other things) come from two books I am currently reading: Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren, and Rapture Ready! by Daniel Radosh (primarily the former).

McLaren talks about framing stories. You may know of them as social histories, personal scripts or personal narratives. Framing stories basically form our selves, shape our thinking, and, in many ways, create the source of our personal and cultural biases. They are not inherently bad, but they do have implications for how we live and move, what we think and believe. Societies are built on framing stories, as are cultures. They create the basis for how we relate to all of created order at all levels.

For instance: “If our framing story tells us that we humans are godlike beings with godlike privileges–intelligent and virtuous creatures outside a limited environment of time and space, without potentially fatal flaws–we have no reason to acknowledge or live within limits, whether moral or ecological. Similarly, if it tells us that the purpose of life is for individuals or nations to accumulate an abundance of possessions and to experience the maximum amount of pleasure during the maximum number of minutes of our short lives, then we will have little reason to manage our consumption…” (McLaren, 2007, p.67) He gives a few other examples, but you get the idea.

I realized last week, that my framing story for God, theology and the body of Christ is NOT the same as many of those in my church. I kinda figured that out a long time ago, but it really became explicit for me. That realization helped me at least articulate why I felt like the square peg. 

The bulk of what Jesus did in his time on earth was to offer an alternative framing story to anyone who was interested. It’s an alternative I’m more inclined to buy into…one that “tells us that we are free and responsible creatures in a creation made by a good, wise, and loving God, and that our Creator wants us to pursue virtue, collaboration, peace, and mutual care for one another and all living creatures, and that our lives have profound meaning if we align ourselves with God’s wisdom, character, and dreams for us…” (McLaren, 2007, p. 67). 

When we become more fully human, when we as individuals become the best of who we can be, we are capable of being more fully present…and more fully the presence of Christ. When we can do that AND align ourselves with God’s dreams for ALL of creation (for all of creation is inextricably linked), then we are really showing people who Christ is and what the kingdom of God is all about. 

Instead, I find myself going to church Sunday after Sunday and hearing the same sermon: we are sinful creatures who must repent and be saved. Then I spend an hour with a smaller group staring at my navel as we talk about how we should pray more or spend more time with God or set aside more money or other things we SHOULD be doing to be in a “right” relationship with God. We never really get outside of ourselves and our walls…in fact, we started a new building security policy to keep people out. We aren’t meeting needs. We aren’t helping accomplish God’s dreams. We’re just punching the ticket.

I keep going because I keep hoping that I can offer up the alternative framing story…that I can show people another way of viewing the kingdom. But when Al or I make comments, people listen but then change the subject quickly…which tells me they aren’t willing to go there…that they are uncomfortable with the possibilities…that maybe our thinking is SO radical…or heretical or liberal…something. (And by the way, I thought I was liberal until I went to another church in the area. Come to find out, I’m only somewhat left of middle.)

I freely admit that I don’t do as much as I could to be part of the here and now kingdom of God. Part of that is because there’s so much to do, I don’t even know where to start. Part of that is because I don’t have the energy I once did…or the amount of time that I would like. Part of it is that I want to at least figure out what interests me most…what do I want to get behind and focus on?

And I guess that’s a question for all of us. How will each of us be part of aligning ourselves with God’s dreams for creation? Would you like to be part of an alternative story? Or will the same sermon suffice?

In 2003, 80 percent of the top buyers of US weapons (twenty of the twenty-five top clients) were countries that our own State Department labeled undemocratic or countries known for their failure to uphold human rights, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In 1999, the US weapons industry supplied arms to 92 percent of the conflicts in process anywhere on the planet, and in a stroke of elegant fairness, often suplied both sides in conflicts. Perhaps most shocking of all: between 1998 and 2001, the United States, Great Britain, and France earned more income from selling weapons to developing countries than they gave those developing countries in aid.

— Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change:
Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

If you haven’t been following Christianity Today’s “Christian Vision Project” you’ve been robbing yourself of some very good information and deep insight into how we can and should be the church in the 21st century. Yesterday I posted my review of Brian McLaren’s “Everything Must Change.” Today I read an article that helps to balance some of the imbalance I saw. You can read the article by Jordan Hylden here.
Hylden’s specific focus is on how we as followers of Jesus should interact with government. His approach is much more biblical than that espoused by McLaren. He emphasizes the fact that the Israelite exiles in Babylon were admonished to live in and pray for Babylon. As a matter of fact the heroes of Scripture from that time did just that. Think of Daniel, Nehemiah, and Esther. He also points out the Paul’s view of the Roman government was that it was in place at the will of God.
For those that follow Jesus, it is important that we remember our citizenship and ultimate loyalty are not with whatever government issued our passport. It is with God’s kingdom. Yet, to truly live out the values of God’s kingdom, Jesus’ followers should be the best possible citizens of this planet and whatever government under which they live. This includes all moral and ethical issues like the rights of the unborn, responsible care of the environment, loving the poor, etc. These are not Democrat/Republican, Left/Right, Liberal/Conservative issues. These are human issues. Issues rooted in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Several posts later…and a slough of comments…

Was Jesus political?  Was his message, in his day–to his disciples and the earliest communities of his apprentices–one that took him and them into radical collision with the Empire of their day?  Conversely, will that same message, if taken seriously by his friends and followers today, lead us into the same head on crash?  To me those questions, and those realities, touch not only individual lives, community lives, but also the life of the polis, the City–politics..not stopping there, but God wants it all, he loses nothing.

One e-friend of this blog commented that Jesus wasn’t political.  I can’t help but wonder if that may be a convenient perspective to hold.  While we can certainly look with hindsight at his ancient friends and say they heard him wrong, they (not we) heard him as a conquering and liberating King–(how wrong they were–if they only had our perspective they could have more appropriately discerned what or WHO they were really dealing with…a liberating King, certainly, but one of the soul…not of earthly situations…silly ancient friends of Jesus…)

Another friend commented, effectively, that our only hope is to be an eternal, non-temporal, non immediate, one.  Let’s not put our trust in changing political systems.  That last statement, I most heartily agree with.  I have no desire to replace one unjust Empire with an empire of my own making or choosing.  That’s not the answer.  Neither, however, is it appropriate to develop an “escapology theology”, pining away in this life for the one to come–never addressing the real issues that concern us (and seem, according to the great bulk of the Text, to concern YHWH). 

It is time then to hear, once again, Jesus words, reimagined in our day, reincarnated for our time and from His own, it was this scandalous message that burst onto the scene in Mark 1:14-16. This is Jesus’ calling card, then and now: 

The time has come! Rethink EVERYTHING! A radically new kind of empire is available–the empire of God has arrived! Believe this good news, and defect from ALL human imperial narratives, counternarratives, dual narratives, and withdrawal narratives. Open your minds and hearts like children to see things freshly in this new way, follow me and my words, and enter into this new Way of living.

Don’t get revenge when wronged, but seek reconciliation. Don’t repay violence with violence, but seek creative and transforming non-violent alternatives. Don’t focus on external conformity to moral codes, but on internal transformation in love.  Don’t love insiders and hate or fear outsiders, but welcome outsiders into a new “us”, a new “we”, a new humanity that celebrates diversity in the context of love for all, justice for all, and mutual respect for all.  Don’t have anxiety about money or security or pleasure as the center of your life, but trust yourself to the care of the Creator.  Don’t live for wealth, but for the living God who loves all people (including your enemies).  Don’t hate your enemies or competitors, but love them and do to them NOT AS THEY HAVE DONE TO YOU–and not BEFORE THEY DO TO YOU–but as you wish they would do to you.

With these words, life in the Way of Jesus inaguarates a different way of living in the world. 

Someone else recently commented that we shouldn’t ever back down from our beliefs, this in response to my thoughts on “accomodating away” the things that may really matter.  I’m not really sure what they meant by that…To be honest, I’m not sure what I really meant by that.

The truth is I don’t care if you call yourself a Christian, go to church, believe in THE Church…those are abstract concepts that have little bearing in my life, or the lives of most of the people I know–the fact that some invest great meaning in them seems to me to be simply a distraction from actually living-a replacing of the Message with the messanger so as not to have to listen to the words that shake us and give rise to changing us. 

Whatever your reality–here’s the thing I no longer apologize for…

Jesus.

He was on to something.

The good dream of the Creator he described, with word and life, and invited friends and enemies to live into, is one that was relevant to his culture…and is still relevant AND radical for ours. 

Recently I invited a friend to join in a conversation where we, as friends of Jesus, actually take up a series of experiments dealing with living life in his Way, to actually take the words of Jesus seriously.  I loved their response…

“I’m afraid.”

Spoken like someone who truly has heard the call of the simple Jewish rabbi, the Master, inviting us into a whole new way of living–one that affects everything and leaves no system untouched, no stone unturned.

I am going to do a short series of posts on the ECM (Emergent Church Movement). I have been reading some books, along with Bryce, and I am hoping to share some helpful insights.

Sadly, the ECM is experiencing a time in which they are throwing the baby out with that bathwater. As we are faced with the challenges of a new prevailing epistemology and cultural thought, namely post-modernism, the ECM is abandoning ship on everything. Just by reading the title of some of the books written by those who write for the ECM, their motives are clear, “Everything Must Change,” “Church on the Other side,” and “Generous Orthodoxy.” All these books are viewing the church in light of its current problems and in light of post-modern thought.

The emphasis of the ECM isn’t orthodox doctrine and theology. Doctrine and theology are being dispensed with in an effort to gain a higher good, namely a more holistic spiritual life. But the ECM will not survive as an evangelical movement if they continue down the path they are on. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel we just need to be continuing the tradition of reforming.

For this first post, I want to contend with the rejection of intellectual modernism. To protest against modernism, as a problem in of itself, is problematic. The collapse of social or cultural modernism doesn’t necessarily flow to the collapse of intellectual modernism. It is the culture, far more commonly, which gives the ideas their plausibility and which makes them seem inevitable. It is from the culture that ideas gain their traction and it is often because of the culture, when it changes, that they lose their traction. The modernization of society allowed for the continuation of intellectual modernism and as the decline of cultural modernization we see the decline of intellectual modernism.

The ECM seems to just be falling in line with the post-modern craze. However, aspects of the faith must be understood from a realistic, modernistic, epistemology. J. P. Moreland, in a plenary address to the 2004 meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, said, “I am convinced that postmodernism is an irresponsible, cowardly abrogation of the duties that constitute a disciple’s calling to be a Christian intellectual and teacher.” He sees postmodernism as “a form of intellectual pacifism,” and describes it as “the cure that kills the patient, the military strategy that concedes defeat before the first shot is fired, the ideology that undermines its own claims to allegiance.” It is “an immoral coward’s way out.” He thinks postmodern culture should be confronted, shown its errors, and opposed.

The ECM fails to demonstrate a reasonable or academic reason to adopt post-modernism. Conceding to post-modernism for the sake of conceding is a dangerous move. In order to engage culture we don’t need to become post-moderns by default.

We need to penetrate other people’s worlds, their thinking, their affections, and their struggles. We need to go their cities and live in them. We need to love them as our neighbors. We need to live in a culture living out the values of a dramatically different culture. We cannot let go of the Bible and the doctrines set forth therein. That’s the way we engage post-moderns.

We’re in the middle of our series Becoming… and one of the books I read was Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change. This book is everything I have come to expect from Brian’s book. It will stretch my thinking, frustrate me, make me mad, I’ll disagree with him, but at the end of the book, I’m glad I spent the time reading it. I have said numerous times, even though I don’t agree with all of this theological beliefs, Brian McLaren is one of the guys who has influenced my spiritual journey the most because of how much he has challenged me and made me think. I think more pastors should read his books with this mindset instead of looking for things they disagree with. Now, I’ll step off my soapbox and get back to the book.

The premise of the book is centered around two questions:  1) What are the biggest problems facing our word; 2) What does Jesus have to say about those problems? These are huge questions, but pressing questions in the world that we live in. If you would take a rough look at the world around us, many Christians are living in a way that says Jesus has absolutely nothing to say about the world we live and the problems we face.

He starts off by asking, “When I was a pastor, people often asked my opinion on hot-button issues like evolution, abortion, and homosexuality. The problem was that after discussing those issues in all their importance and intensity, I couldn’t help asking other questions:  Why do we need to have singular and firm opinions on the protection of the unborn, but not about how to help poor people and how to avoid killing people labeled enemies who are already born? Or why are we so concerned about the legitimacy of homosexual marriage but not about the legitimacy of fossil fuels or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (and in particular, our weapons as opposed to theirs)? Or why are so many religious people arguing about the origin of species but so few concerned about the extinction of species?” It just keeps moving from there. What Brian points out and what I have felt for a long time is that we zero in our “hot button” issues and everything falls by the wayside. We all do this. He asks, “Why hasn’t the Christian religion made a difference commensurate with its message, size, and resources? What would need to happen for followers of Jesus to become a greater force for good in relation to the world’s top problems? How could we make a positive difference?”

One of the things I am excited about with the Becoming… series is that we will be partnering with churches in Tucson for something called Advent Conspiracy. We will be raising money to give away to people in Tucson, as well as in the third world to build wells for clean drinking water.

Here are a few things that jumped out:

• Jesus’ message is not actually about escaping this troubled world for heaven’s blissful shores, as is popularly assumed, but instead is about God’s will being done on this troubled earth as it is in heaven. So people interested in being a new kind of Christian will inevitably begin to care more and more about this world, and they’ll want to better understand its most significant problems, and they’ll want to find out how they can fit in with God’s dreams actually coming true down here more often.
• Contrary to popular belief, the message of the kingdom is not focused on how to escape this world and its problems by going to heaven after death, but instead was focused on how God’s will could be done on earth, in history, during this life. We describe God’s kingdom in terms of God’s dreams coming true for this earth, of God’s justice and peace replacing earth’s injustice and disharmony.
• “No problem can be solved from the same level of conciousness that created it.” (Albert Einstein)

You can tell in this book that Brian has spent a lot of time with Jim Wallis as this book reminded me a lot of God’s Politics. This book is definitely worth reading, in an election year or not. I think that thinking Christians should check this out, wrestle through it and try to discover the answers to Brian’s questions.

“The Bible’s purpose, we assume, is to explain how to go to heaven, to legitimize certain religious institutions, to define in detail universal timeless truths, to provide a detailed timeline for the end of the world, and so on. But based on that assumption, there appears to be a lot of junk revelation in there, a lot of extraneous material about history, agriculture, economics, art, ethics, and “earthly” things, extra stuff that doesn’t really matter in relation to getting souls to heaven. So, what might we discover if we become willing to question that assumption? Then we could test an alternative hypothesis:  that the Bible instead is the story of the partnership between God and humanity to save and transform all of human society and avert global self-destruction. Perhaps if we read the Bible afresh from this perspective, a lot of the supposed filler will suddenly come alive with new importance and meaning.” – Brian McLaren in “Everything Must Change”

Do you agree?

Here are some books I am reading for our next series Becoming…

• “Jesus Wants to Save Christians:  A Manifesto for the Church in Exile”  (Rob Bell)
• “Jesus for President:  Politics for Ordinary Radicals”  (Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw)
• “Everything must Change:  Jesus, Global Crises, and the Revolution of Hope”  (Brian McLaren)
• “The Tangible Kingdom:  Creating Incarnational Community”  (Hugh Halter & Matt Sway)
• “The Forgotten Ways:  Reactivating the Missional Church”  (Alan Hirsch)
• “The New Conspirators:  Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time”  (Tom Sine)
• “Good News about Injustice:  A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World”  (Gary Haugen)
• “Activate:  An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups”  (Nelson Searcy)
• “It:  How Churches and Leaders can get It and Keep It”  (Craig Groeschel)
• “Simple Church:  Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples”  (Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger)
• “The Irresistible Revolution:  Living as an Ordinary Radical”  (Shane Claiborne)
• “We the Purple:  Faith, Politics & the Independent Voter”  (Marcia Ford)
• “Transforming Mission”  (David Bosch)

1. Brian McLaren on Why he’s voting for Barack Obama (here, here, here, here, & here). (interesting, I don’t know if I agree, but it made me think)
2. Donald Miller on The campaign trail and where he falls on the “issues”
3. Todd Rhoades on The financial crisis being a good thing
4. Dave & Christe LePeau on Countdown to election questions (here & here)
5. Gregory Boyd’s blog
6. Books:  How would Jesus vote?, Everything must change, Jesus for president, We the purple

1. Out of Ur on Professional mystery worshippers
2. C.J. Mahaney & John Piper on Sermon Prep
3. Scot McKnight on Brian McLaren & the Emerging Church
4. Nelson Searcy on What keeps people in a church
5. Brian McLaren on Why he’s voting for Barack Obama (here, here, here & here). I’m reading Brian’s book Everything Must Change, so I found these posts interesting as they pertain to his book, but he comes at the campaign from a different angle, which has challenged my thinking.
6. The Mark Driscoll R-Rated Study Bible for Dudes (can’t wait to get this)
7. Out of Ur on Integrity in the election

Dualistic thinking abounds during election years…both from the right and the left. I think we’re better than sinking into single issue choice. It’s been a struggle as a follower of Jesus to imagine a way to be faithful to beliefs during this campaign season. To be honest I’ve wrestled with the notion of even voting…sort of a, “would Jesus even vote?” mentality. I’ve thought about writing in Jesus for President as a demonstration of my frustration. And recently, during the last debate, I was disappointed that in both candidates stump like speeching there was a lot of talk about rich and middle classes, but not one word about the poor. One person informed me it was because the poor don’t pay taxes; I suppose some think that means they don’t deserve to be heard about or from…that doesn’t seem like the Way of the Kingdom to me. That having been said, I’ve been open, among friends, of my support for Obama. Interestingly, but not exactly surprisingly, that has drawn outright rage from my more fundamentalist friends. One shook their head at me and looked at me like I had just burned an American flag AND spit on the Bible. Another peppered me with anti-Obama rhetoric they must have picked up from Governor Palin, or an air wave ideologue. Still someone else openly called into question my faith commitment. To me, that’s sad.

It’s always hard to navigate relevant choices in a way that is faithful to deep beliefs that are often black and white, while acknowledging that the options to choose from are usually gray. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’ve languished over the possibilities here. For the most part I’ve known where my vote was going, if I was going to cast one. Still, I’ve had to answer to many people as to why I might support someone who is, pro-choice. It seems that’s the clenching reason that many people lean towards the Republican posture. I’m sure there are other reasons…but in Christian circles, none that draws so much criticisms as that, I suspect. I reply, truthfully, that I am NOT pro-choice, and actually wish that Obama would change his perspective on this issue. I also try and point out that my being PRO-LIFE also forces me to view the world through more holistic lenses than simply being Pro-Fetus (which I am). Life, I try and remind my friends who are asking, is more than simply cradle…it’s also to the grave–womb to tomb. That’s the sort of pro-lifer I am. My belief in life extends towards being pro-public education for our children, improving their quality of understanding and integration in society; for me, being pro-life also involves being Pro-Peace…not Pro-War. Jesus, I feel, said, blessed are the peacemakers. This begins with being peacable individuals, but also extends to being peaceful people groups and nations. That precludes the option of war in my mind, especially unjust war. Pro-life also means the taking care of living things…all of creation, which is filled with the glory and image of God. Isaiah tells us to speak out for those who have no voice (including unborn children)…I take this to also mean creation, who groans for the sons and daughters of God to join them in reflecting God’s good dream. I love creation and I’d rather serve and protect it than rape and pillage it. I also believe that life extends into the basic ability for people to secure health care coverage. I have also always thought that to be pro-life I also cannot justify the vindicative killing of others…even if they’ve killed others themselves. God not only loves the innocent…His love, grace, mercy and care also extends to the guilty. And, in many ways I would argue that He seems to even be drawn towards those guilty all the more. He did, after all, come for the sick, not only the healthy. This, for me, involves what some have called an entire culture of life. That’s why, while I do not support some of one candidates initiatives, I do support most of them. One person called this, “my support of Robin Hood socialism”. He meant that as a slam I suspect. Funny thing, literally, Robin Hood was the hero of that story, not the villain. I’m fine with identifying with Robin Hood…better Him than prince John.

I guess what I’m saying is that I’m trying to find my way in His Way through all of this. It’s my love of Christ that compels me towards these questions and choices…I’m willing to say that many of my more conservative friends also feel the same way. I’m even willing to say that they’re following what they clearly believe to be God’s will in who they vote for. I respect that. I vote for it. Hopefully they’ll allow me the same latitude.

Recently I read some great articles that I identify with. They clarify some of the muddle of my own thinking. Maybe you’ll enjoy them also.

Cheers, as each of us try to apply our faith into action, knowing that no one candidate or issue will move us towards the kingdom any more than we must do, ourselves, daily.

A Nexus of Fascinating Perspectives

Voting, an idolatrous pilgrimage?

Pro-life/Pro Obama

Former Right Wing advocate comes out for Obama: The Moral Choice

Former Right Wing advocate comes out for Obama: Pro Life/Pro Obama

McLaren, why he’s voting for Obama: part 1 (there’s several parts here)

Don Miller’s running weblog, including reasons why he supports Obama