emerging mosaic

So in response to the recent USA today article about people turning away from religion I have had several conversations mostly in cyberspace with Christians who give me way to understand why our culture is moving into being post-religious.

First, there is the knee jerk reaction and immediate assumption by some of us Christians that if people are not religious they are anti-Christian. (Oh and by the way if you are anti-Christian you are also anti-American). In fact the article suggested that all religions and religious tribes are losing ground.  Instead of looking at the context and seeing that though these folks are not interested in religious institutions (and remembering that Jesus was not either)  they are spiritual ; there is the immediate defensive posture that they are hostile to religion and so hostile to us and so hostile to God. There is no consideration of the idea behind Dan Kimball’s book that they might like Jesus but not the church (i.e institutional religion) .

Secondly there is what seems to me to be a weak confidence in God’s word and Jesus message that feeds the fixation on personal salvation as all that matters. I need to get heaven and the rest be damned. Religion is the ticket to heaven. Not faith mind you religion. So if we are losing our religion then we are shaking the very foundations of the faith. Never mind that Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against the the church. I believe that God in control and will ways be in control and though the church or religion may be shaken, the faith of Abraham, Jesus and Paul will not no matter what craziness we mixed up messed up human beings get into.

So I don’t blame the average pew sitter in this. it is some of our religious leaders that truly worry and scare. Watch the video that was sent to me to rebut my thoughts about living faithfully in a post-religious world.

john mcarthur’s religious views on the emergent church

But there is blame to go around on all sides there are some folks with new perspectives on the faith that seem intent on disconnecting from the historical biblical Christian faith.  It gives dogmatic people fodder for their views and lets them paint anyone not agreeing their dogmatic views with the same brush and leads to responses like the one below to my above thoughts.

Either or propositions? What? Are we all Hindus now too? Truth is ALWAYS an “either or proposition.” You yourself cannot follow your own line when you refer to truth as being Scripture. (No relativist ever can live his own propositions.) I do agree that salvation is “holistic” (I really hate all these goopy trendy words) - spirit, soul, body. But the great, overwhelming emphasis in Scripture was on the spiritual, the eternal, the Kingdom that flesh and blood cannot inherit.

Years ago church consultant Bill Easum suggested to a group of church leaders that one of the biggest challenges for Jesus followers moving into the future was going to be the question how can I follow Jesus without being a bigot. I think he was asking us to consider how can we stand for Jesus without blowing off the very people Jesus calls us to reach.

So I wonder what will faith look like in post-religious world? Will there be a church for the post-religious or will we all be heading to hell in an hand basket?

I wonder if defenders of the truth will descend on this blog to prove their point and share their view, we will see.

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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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Technorati Tags: christian_faith, faith & culture, moby, peace-wreath, spiritual-practice

I got the latest Emergent/C (which is the newsletter/communication piece of Emergent Village) today and it included this quote.

We in Emergent Village are poised for an important year in 2007. A pivotal year, I’d say. Lots of people are watching—some with high hopes that EV might be a part of a re-birth of Christian faith, a revolution in what it means to follow Jesus. (Others, of course, are plotting our demise J.)

The part I highlighted above about revolution has got me thinking. Is that why some people are “plotting the demise” of EV. Would it be more accessible for people to think of the emerging emergent church as an evolution of how the church practices the faith rather than a revolution? Can the emergent folks make claim to being the vanguard of a revolutionary movement in following Jesus (especially when it is still so monolithic in its racial ethnic makeup)?
Kester Brewin in his book Complex Christ suggests that emergence is more closely connected to evolution than revolution. Revolution he continues correlates more with insurgence than emergence. The point of view from which we view the emerging church and emergent conversation determines how we pursue the developing practice of the faith and who ends up coming along for the ride.

So is it evolution or revolution? Maybe it is both and what say you?

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Michale Stipe from R.E.M. and producer of the movie Saved! talks about faith in a great interview I came across after reading a blurb on it in Relevant magazine. Here is a snippet.

Faith in general–and I am speaking about Christian faith in particular because it’s what I’m most familiar with–is an individual thing. But I think it’s easy to get lost in it and to maybe allow other people to tell you what is and is not right. I think a true Christian, and I’ll use my parents as the shining example in my life, recognizes what the teachings of Jesus represent and what that means to them, and then, in the not-simple day-to-day living and breathing those teachings, what paths do you take, what choices do you make, what do you support, what do you not support?

If there’s a schism in this country, it might be not between the people who have faith and the people who don’t have faith, but people who have faith that is, in my opinion, pure to the teachings of Jesus and people who have taken that and turned it into something for other reasons, be that power, be that intolerance or ignorance. And that’s where a schism might have occurred in this country presently.

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While many people have decried Kanye West’s comments about the Bush administration and black people there is little hue and cry about Christians who describe the New Orleans disaster as God’s way of cleansing the "sinful" city.  So into the void comes on Chicago DJ. Who asks Do you believe in sin?

It is at once a scathing indictment of practice of the Christian faith in North America and a poetic and deeply spiritual response to the unbelievable callous response of some to the death and despair so many have faced.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Technorati Tags: christian_faith, new_orleans

In a recent conversation I had with some folks about leadership models for the emerging church it was suggested that there were no more prophets and no more prophetic voice. Still listen to the prophetic voice of Dr. King as he calls for what we now describe as an emerging church.

"But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust." - Martin Luther King, Jr. writing from the Birmingham Jail

I believe God is still raising up prophets in our midst would that we had ears to hear and eyes to see. Thanks to Anthony Smith for resurrecting this quote on his blog

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Technorati Tags: african_american_church, christian_faith, emerging church

What if faith is a story? A true story not a myth, of God’s unending love for humanity and our restless wandering away from that love. A story of the brokenness that the wandering bring. A mystical story of God’s supernatural natural power and beyond human love that can transform even the most broken situations.

How would that change the way we view and use Bible? The way we share faith with others? The way we live?

Would the Bible be more than a book of facts and legal rules of how to get into heaven? Would sharing faith be more about helping others to find themselves in the great story? Would people of all cultures and nations find the connections of their stories with the great story? Would living for God mean following Jesus pattern of lving deeply into the story, until the biblical story becomes the story we live? Would faith be tied to prosperity or would the poor see themselves in this story of faith?

Justin @ Radical Congruency has a podcast where he reads a quote from NT Wright about the power of story. (yes I am using a qoute from NT Wright)

"Tell someone to do something and you change their life for a day. Tell someone a story and you change their life."

What is faith was a story that we lived inspite of ourselves, because of ourselves? I might change our lives.

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Technorati Tags: biblical_story, christian_faith, share_faith

I discovered this awesome prayer over at ragamuffin diva

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds hide me.
Separated from Thee let me never be.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
At the hour of death, call me.
And close to Thee bid me.
That with Thy saints I may be
Praising Thee, forever and ever.  Amen

 thanks to the diva for sharing

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Technorati Tags: christian_faith, spiritual-practice

Jason Clark has posed an interesting question about the range of engagement in what is called the emerging church. I have to say that using his diagram mosaic life church and i am somewhere between c & d. i am intentional about decontructing some of western modernist garbly gook that we mistakenly call Christianity and encouraging people to take a serious look at the teaching of Jesus is scripture and not just by into modern interpretations of Paul writing as the basis of faith and life.

However I don’t feel that we need to leave everything behind. to me being a part of the emergent church is about renewing, reforming, and refreshing. we need to be constantly renewing our relationship with god not and not see god only through the existing doctrinal statements. We need to be constantly reformed by the spirit of God so we can see what god is doing in our world and how God is calling us to join in. we need to refresh our methods and separate from function realizing the forms themselves have not inherit power apart from God and the way they are used by God to fulfill God’s purpose. As one theologian Thelieke says the gospel most constantly be readdressed in each generation and time or it will not reach its intended address.

One of my beefs with some who are a part of the emergent conversation is they seems stuck in the A quadrant of Jason’s scheme. Lots of de-construction but no new media or forms. Or in many cases a return to forms of old forms (using hymns and liturgies) not ancient forms that tend to else the forms used in non-western Christian settings.

at any rate I think Jason has raised an important topic of conversation.

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Technorati Tags: christian_faith, christian_perspective, emerging_church

Mosaic Life had a great service saturday day yesterday. service saturday is our bimonthly community service event. we gave away free balloons, tattoos, and glow sticks at the east town street fair.

the ups

• we are definitely becoming known as a church that is involved in serving the community.
• many people came by and asked for info about us some stopped for longer conversations.
• the community association really welcomes us.
• one person came to worship today as a result.

the downs

• people are really cynical about church mainly because of one church in the area that has really dumped on the community in a negative way.
• i was exhausted today and i think it showed in my message.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Technorati Tags: christian_faith, church planting, mosaic, share_faith