emerging mosaic

The cover story of this week’s edition of Newsweek is the Decline and fall of Christian America. The author John Meachem, a self described flawed Christian (from the Episcopalian tribe) discusses the shift in the American religious landscape.  On MSNBC this morning Meachem and Tim Keller from Redeemer Church in NYC discussed the story, here are a couple of their observations.

Tim Keller:

• There is a shift in the evangelical population that used to be more blue collar. More are going to college and  have dveloped a different take on the Christian faith.
• Many people of faith want to take their faith beyond just two issues into the public sphere of the academy, Hollywood, and even wall street.
• Some peopleof faith see all of life as being a part of faith

Meachem:

•  The political recent experiment of Christian America in the political sphere has failed.
• There is a difference between Christianity and Christianized America
• More people of faith have less allegiance and trust in religious institutions, so the church has to figure out what to with that.
• Many people of faith have become more seeks that religious adherents

So American is becoming less religious but not necessarily less Christian?  Last September at the religious news writers association I shared during a panel discussion that I thought American culture was decidedly less religious but still very open to the Christian faith.  More prominent authors like Greg Boyd Myth of a Christian Nation has written about this. Julia Duin in her book Quitting Church also speaks to the shifting tide that Meachem addresses.

Other people of faith are convinced this shift means the end of Christianity as we know it in America.They may be right. It may be the end of the practice of the Christian faith as we have known it.  But it does not mean the end of  the Christians faith. We can no longer do business as usual. But changing our approach to practicing the Christian faith does not mean the death of the christian message.

So are we in a post-christian era or a post religious era?

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Our faith community is going to be having an online discussion group of the novel The Shack. As I was doing a search for some video on it I came across this rant (sermon) on YouTube.

Mark Driscoll on the Shack

I think he misses the point of metaphor. The characters in the Shack related to the Trinity are metaphors. They are not meant to actually suggest that  God the creator is a  black woman, Jesus the redeemer is an Palestinian (though he probably was) and the Spirit the sustainer (is an Asian).

The definition of metaphor from dictionary.com

a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.

Metaphors help us to wrap our brains around deep concepts by connecting them to symbols or icons that are more readily accessible. It is why use image metaphors in our worship each week.

Jesus used metaphors. Listen to Jesus as we weeps over the people of Jerusalem

³⁴ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Luke 13:34Luke 13:34
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Jesus Loves Jerusalem ³⁴ Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed the prophets and have stoned the messengers who were sent to you. I have often wanted to gather your people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you wouldn't let me.

Jesus isn’t saying he is a hen. he isn’t making a graven image of God he is using a metaphor that is accessible to those listening. People whose farming background would have made the idea of a hen caring for her chicks quite familiar. Jesus used  metaphors by speaking in parables, a common rabbinic way of teaching. They didn’t just tell adn give answers they told stories that raised questions. The parables generated questions and conversations with the genuinely spiritually curious instead of just telling people what to think. Mark 4:34Mark 4:34
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
34 He did not tell them anything without using stories. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

The book is a novel, a story, not a doctrinal statement or dogmatic text. He is using metaphors iconic imagery that is familiar that is accessible to his reader.  If nothing else this gets people (Jesus followers and those who aren’t) in this post-religious world talking about the Trinity one of the most challenging parts of Christian teaching. It is a subject that many avoid and some in recent years have tried to dismiss altogether.

Part of learning to practice faith in the post-religious world is learning to entertain the ideas of other without having to agree with them. Metaphors are a part the language of the post-religious. I think learning to use metaphors as a means to engage in conversation rather than just dismissing them when they arise in culture, is important to living faithfully in a post-religious world .  Ironically isn’t that what Paul did at Mars Hill. Acts 17:22,23Acts 17:22,23
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
22 So Paul stood up in front of the council and said: People of Athens, I see that you are very religious. ²³ Ws . As I was going through your city and looking at the things you worship, I found an altar with the words,

So is it possible to have a conversation about this stuff without all the hyperbole?

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Two quotes for the post-religious world from  Making Disciples in an Emerging Church good stuff there.

Howard Thurman

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I recently became acquainted with Kim Winston who has a book and web site on the use of prayer beads. Kim writes that through the use prayer beads she is making her way back to God. I think this is a great example of how reclaiming ancient spiritual practices can make tried and ways of being connected to God fresh and accessible to all kinds of people. Check out her web site at Bead One, Pray Too

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I got this today from someone is concerned as I am about how we continue to live Dr King’s dream

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So early last month I completed the training for yoga teacher certification at the Holy Yoga teacher training retreat (check out pictures) It was an awesome experience meeting and working with people of faith who are doing authentic yoga as Jesus followers. A great community and connection was cultivated and I really relished the teaching and spirit of Brooke Boone founder of Holy yoga and the inspiration, motivation, and encouragement of Dawn and Alisa the other teacher trainers. The daily meditation times led by Amy were awesome and brought incredible spiritual focus to the yoga practice that followed.

BTW I haven’t eaten so healthy in ages.

Now I am leading/teaching two yoga prayer practices at Mosaic Life church. Prayer flow (vinyasa) for those who really want to sweat on Mondays @ 5:45 and level 1 on Wednesdays @ 6:30 

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Several weeks ago I shared my thoughts about moving beyond a churchianity type of Christianity to practicing faith more focused on joining God in kingdom work. Now a recently released boo titled unchristian points to why this is so important.

The book has research about how the church is viewed in our culture by the prominent Christian researcher George Barna. It reinforces the title of Dan Kimball’s book They like Jesus but not the church. The book and its accompanying web site suggests that the church has an image problem.

 Here are are some snippets

One-fifth of all outsiders, regardless of age, admitted they “have had a bad experience in a church or with a Christian that gave them a negative image of Jesus Christ.” This represents nearly fifty million adult residents of this country-including about nine million young outsiders-who admit they have significant emotional or spiritual baggage from past experiences with so-called Christ followers.

Christians believe the primary reason outsiders have rejected Christ is that they cannot handle the rigorous standards of following Christ. There is a nuance here that allows Christians to feel like they’re better than other people, more capable of being holy and sinless.

Only one out of five outsiders said they perceive Christian churches as loving environments, places where people are unconditionally loved and accepted regardless of how they look or what they do. Surprisingly, fewer than half of churchgoers, including born-again Christians, felt strongly that their church demonstrates unconditional love.

Here are a couple thoughts I have. It is certainly not exhaustive but a starting point.

First I think we need to get over ourselves. We have to get beyond thinking that being the church is about those of us who are in the church. The church exists to serve God by serving the world. Jesus said it clearly he came to serve humanity (Matthew 20:28Matthew 20:28
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
28 The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue x rescue: The Greek word often, though not always, means the payment of a price to free a slave or a prisoner. many people.

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) so as his followers so should we.

Second spend less time trying to figure out who is in and  who is out and focus on doing the things Jesus said connects to him and to God. Like visiting the sick and imprisoned, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and clothing the naked. (Matthew 25:31-46Matthew 25:31-46
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
The Final Judgment ³¹ a ; b . When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. ³² The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats. ³³ He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those on his right,

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) Basically being their for the outsiders of our world.

Finally I think we need try to become like Jesus. A middle eastern man who lives a simple live was always working to deepen his connection to God and live out the scriptures. You see I think many in the church have become good a seeing all the flaws in others that will prevent then from going to heaven but we aren’t paying attention to what God is calling us to be as followers of Jesus. Not judges but followers. A recent talk I did at a public forum has gotten me a letter that suggest I am misguided at best and pagan at worst because I practice yoga and we have setup prayer labyrinths.

I wonder where in the scriptures does it say don’t practice yoga that focused our hearts, bodies and spirit on following Jesus or set up prayer labyrinth that deepen our relationship with Jesus our Saviour? However Jesus did tell his followers to leave alone anyone who proclaim the good news of God’s love in his name. (Mark 9:38-41Mark 9:38-41
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For or against Jesus ³⁸ John said,

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So for about three to four years (intentionally for about the last two years) now I have been practicing yoga. I got into it because I was looking for something to help with my chronic back pain (caused by my scoliosis). After some frustrating days I discovered that practicing yoga helped relieve my lower back pain. In fact I am now pretty much pain free in my lower back. However there were two unanticipated benefits.

1. I lost weight (30 pounds in fact)
2. Yoga helped me to center my mind in a way that allowed me to better connect with God.

Now most everyone who is a regular part of my church Mosaic Life knows I practice yoga. But recently with the launch of our new ministry Awaken: contemplative living 24/7 I decided to pursue training to teach yoga as my contribution to that ministry. So I got level one teacher training from yoga fit and I’m pursuing registered teaching training with Brooke Boone of Holy Yoga. Next month I will start teaching a free weekly yoga practice. I know there are some Christians who think that the two are incompatible (check out the video below.) But there is something powerful that happens when I bring my Christian spirituality to my yoga mat. Any other Christians yogis care to comment

yoga and christianity

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I came across this article while browsing Churches Embrace New Urbanism as Antidote to Isolation and it stirred some  thoughts. The writer references the author of  Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith (The Christian Practice of Everyday Life)

New Urbanism has become a mantra for people interested in restoring urban centers and reconfiguring suburban sprawl. Its designs have sprouted across the country, from new towns like Seaside, Fla., to redevelopment in existing places like Gaithersburg, Md., or West Palm Beach, Fla. The Congress for the New Urbanism started small 12 years ago and now has more than 2,300 architects, developers, planners and urban designers.

Now Christian leaders are adopting the movement. They say the philosophy behind New Urbanism is a possible antidote to the isolation experienced by many churches and Christians. Across the country, influential Christians are thinking theologically about urban design and applying its principles to the church. They advocate for New Urbanist concepts because they force people to share with one another, dwell among their neighbors and allow for a healthy exchange of ideas.

The national advocates for New Urbanism include Randy Frazee, a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, a trend-setting Illinois megachurch attended by more than 20,000 people. Frazee says there’s a “movement brewing” where Christians are striving to capture the values of New Urbanism because of an urgent need.

A couple of years ago I was able to participate in a seminar on new urbanism. I was  enthralled by the potential synergy between the new urbanist social movement and the call to churches to return to our urban centers and be a part of their renewal. I think of Mosaic life as a new urbanist faith community, though we are not strictly a geographic or parish church. It is interesting that Randy Frazee is embracing new urbanist values. itisinteresting to me that Willow Creek which is so often talked about like the evil empire of the church often innovates more in terms of praxis.

Frazee compared mega-churches to castles surrounded by moats. A few times a year the drawbridge is lowered to let people in, where they become a subculture separate from the outside world. They become so involved in church life that they are not involved in their neighborhoods, he said.

“You have to disengage from your community to be involved in the church,” Frazee said, describing the problem. “Now the church has become irrelevant to the community.”

Willow Creek is a laboratory for new ideas in the evangelical world. Frazee said the push for New Urbanism will include the 10,500he 10,500
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churches in the Willow Creek Association, which links smaller congregations that share the megachurch’s philosophy of ministry

Last fall I went to the CCDA conference in indiana and Dr. John Perkins taught a Bible study every morning his main text was Zechariah 8. Th efollowing verse stuck in my mind and seem to me to evoke the kind of new urbanist perspective tha Jacobson expresses, 

¹ Then another message came to me from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:
² “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!
³ “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.
⁴ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem’s streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares.
⁵ And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.
⁶ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
⁷ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west.
⁸ I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
Zechariah 8:1-8Zechariah 8:1-8
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
8 The Lord's Promises to Zion ¹ The Lord All-Powerful said to me: ² I love Zion so much that her enemies make me angry. ³ I will return to Jerusalem and live there on Mount Zion. Then Jerusalem will be known as my faithful city, and Zion will be known as my holy mountain. ⁴ Very old people with walking sticks will once again sit around in Jerusalem, ⁵ while boys and girls play in the streets. ⁶ This may seem impossible for my people who are left, but it isn't impossible for me, the Lord All-Powerful. ⁷ I will save those who were taken to lands in the east and the west, ⁸ and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, faithful to bring about justice.

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(NLT)

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My esteem of moby, artist, musician, entrepreneur and Jesus follower is going up all the time. I find his candor and perspective on the Christian faith refreshing. Check out this recent post on the insanity of how some are practicing faith in America and the contrast in actual teaching of Jesus.

It was sparked by this news article Neighborhood fights over peace wreath, here is a photograph of the wreath

Read the post truly insane | moby.com

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