Emerging Church, Part 2
The second day was very helpful. Kimball didn’t say it this way but my filter puts it in terms of my own belief and practice. The challenge is to be able to read and assess the context of the individual or group in order to respond appropriately (would this be another form of proper distinction of Law and Gospel). The reading comes as we listen with the heart of God to the hearts of those around us.
Kimball pointed out what research shows to be the major issues that cause young adults to love Jesus but not like the Church. He says the church is viewed as judgmental, homophobic and afraid of divergent thinking. What can one say. He is correct.
His point though, is that we need to be aware of who we are and attend to the ways in which we respond to those around us. My thought would be that we learn to become transparent so that we love with the arms of Jesus and connect to the needs of those around us as we become aware of the suffering of Christ.
He had some great creative worship ideas that work in his setting. However, even he is quick to point out that worship expression is a matter of culture and context. You cannot just transfer a worship setting or style from one place to the other. Authenticity is grounded in living out the context and as the Spirit leads.
It still is a matter of hospitality.
I have ordered Kimball’s book, but it has not arrived yet. I am anxious to read it along side of some of the other books that I am reading concerning similar issues. One of the books that I am reading is called “The End of Faith”. This author calls on people of all faiths and all expressions of those faiths, moderate and fanatical, to give up their faith in order to save the world. He blames Christians and Muslims for the discord in the world and that discord he contends will lead to an escalation in hostilities that will eventually lead to a nuclear showdown.
The reason that I mention this book is that the church is not just being seen as irrelevant, which is the threat it faced when I was in high school, but there are a growing number of people who see it as a threat to society and something to be eradicated.
The tide is definitely turning and it isn’t in our favor. In another book that I just finished, Lee Strobel pinpoints a sticking point for many. Those outside the church want us to be inclusive and accepting, but their definition of inclusive means that I accept your beliefs as true and on equal footing as my own. My fear is that if I befriend people who are gay or into Wicken or whatever, that they will think that I believe that their lifestyle is fine with me and that it has an equal claim to the truth. What I would like for them to hear is that despite our differences I accept you as a human being, and we will have to be in dialog about things on which we don’t agree, or agree to disagree.
My experience is that this is not the message that they want to hear and then the prejudice shoe goes on the other foot and they feel free to write me off as a human being because I refuse to be “inclusive”. This isn’t what I am reading it is also from painful personal experience.
My failing is that I don’t know how to bridge this gap in comunication in a way that is helpful. I try not to come from an arrogant attitude but to many I am afraid that this is how it comes off.
Their philosophies intend to deny or degrade Jesus to the level of just another human so that they don’t have to deal with him or exalt themselves to level of God making them the rulers and masters of their lives. In both cases they don’t see the self centeredness of their propsitions and that it does nothing to solve the human condition now or ever. I can’t accept these ideas as the truth when I look at the historical Jesus and His saving work. I can’t declare them equal, knowing what I know.
I can’t wait to read Kimball’s book and see what he has to say and how it can help with all of this. I am new to the whole “Emerging Church” movement but I know that we need to make a drastic change, not because of people’s perception of us, but because we are not figuring out ways around the roadblocks to expressing our faith in the world in a way that will earn us a hearing.
Deon,
You express what many of us feel. It is a struggle of authenticity from all perspectives and how we live that our with others.
In CPE I am learning to accept the whole person and not worry about their behaviors, or, how they perceive or miss-perceive my views. My calling is to see each person as Christ and to treat each person as Christ.
The rest I leave to the care of and commendation of God. I am called to love and to serve….