Baby Grey

Baby Grey was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 21.5 inches long!

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Kathryn Names Her Superheroes

ReJesus Part Two

So, now that we see God, the church, and the world differently, how does that vision impact the dynamics of our relationship with Christ?  

First, Hirsch and Frost examine the competing forces that vie for our imaginations.  Modern distractions of economic security and consumerism have drawn us away from truly following Christ.  We have co-opted God into this realm, using him as a means to getting "my best life now" or "financial freedom" or whatever.  Our minds need to be "reJesused", that is, brought back into knowing and following Jesus.  

To do that, we must become "little Jesuses", and to illustrate the point, the authors refer to the film "V for Vendetta".  The film takes place in a future-Britain, ruled by a totalitarian government who has captured the imaginations of its people using fear and consumerism.  

V's call for action succeeds, even though he dies in the process.  He has inspired the imaginations of others to follow him, and the government is reformed. 

In a similar way, we are called to become "little Jesuses", striving to become like Christ.  That is the focus and goal of discipleship.  It goes beyond going to a Bible study and memorizing some verses of Scripture. "We possess Christ's truth only by imitating him, not by speculating about him."

"The critical role of discipleship in the mission of the church once again highlights the role of the radical Jesus in the life of faith.  And this bond cannot merely involve a cerebral, objective, indirect understanding of Jesus and the Christian faith.  This substitution of thinking about Jesus for existential encounter with Jesus is a constant temptation for the follower.  This is partly because a living relationship with the Lord of the universe is a risky, disturbing, and demanding experience.  We never get the better of him, and it is a whole lot easier, and less costly, to think than to do."

And so, we are called to become more and more like Christ, and in doing so discover more and more what it means to be fully human.  We don't become like Christ by wearing sandals and learning carpentry.  We become Jesus in our context, in our culture.  And doing so requires more than just imitation through observation.  We must KNOW Christ, like we would know a loved one.  The gospels provide a compass for this journey.

Some thoughts and implications I gained . . .

1.  My role in communicating to others needs to help them discover the joys of imagination in Christ.  "We've heard too many sermons about how to be better citizens (or have better marriages, or better kids, or whatever).  Too much preaching is concerned with a fostering of a capitulation to the mores and values of a post-Christian empire rather than a call to allow our imaginations to be overtaken by Jesus and focused on treasures in heaven."

2.  I'm doing personal studies around the life and teachings of Christ, and letting them be the driving factor in my sermons and teachings.  I hope that it helps others to understand his mission (and, therefore, ours).

3.  I want to continually challenge our church to stand against the pricking of consumerism.  That begins with me to quit worrying about money for the church (it seems I can do this just fine for personal finances, but have a hard time for the organization).

ReJesus Part One

A year ago I read through "The Forgotten Ways", an exploration into the missional expression of the church.  It's a life-changing look at following Christ.  ReJesus follows these considerations up by examining the life of Jesus (without all of the perceptions that 2,000 years of church history can give).  While much of this book underscored a lot of my thinking, I was also challenged by some of the implications.  My imagination has been awakened!

"We readily acknowledge tha tnone of us have within us the fortitude, the grace, the courage, and the imagination to actually be like Jesus.  It is a lost cause.  But it's a lost cause made worth it by the forgiveness and grace shown us in Jesus' death on our behalf.  By dying for us to set us free from the penalty of our sinfulness, he doesn't nullify the call to good works and godly living.  Rather, he elevates from an endless and hopeless attempt to impress God to a joyful adventure of enjoying Christ's presence by imitating him."

Part of the reason why following Christ seems different is that we have made him "otherworldly", an alien from another world that is wholly different and beyond us.  This is only partly true.  Following him is something we do in a metaphysical sense, but genuine action is considered optional.  

The authors (Hirsch and Frost) conclude that, when we truly "reJesus" ourselves, we will see God differently (missio Dei), we will see the church differently (participatio Christi), and we will see the world differently (imago Dei).

"Those who are taken captive by Jesus see mission not merely as a practice preferred by God but as an aspect of his very character.  He IS mission.  Core to understanding God's nature is the realization that God cannot NOT be about the business of mission....In effect, he is both the sent and sending God."

Jesus said that he is about the work of the Father, that he simply does what he sees his Father doing (John 5:19).  In turn, we are sent by Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) to do what we have seen Him doing.  God sent his Son, Father and Son sent the Spirit, and now Father, Son, and Spirit sends the church into the world.

"Through Jesus' death God has entered into our world for good.  God will now no longer dwell in temples, but in the hearts of those who serve God."  

This is the understanding of Paul when we says that we are temples, ambassadors, and the body of Christ.

Regarding the church, "When we are taken captive by the Nazarene carpenter, we can no longer see ourselves as participants in a similar system to the one he came to subvert."  Religion holds no sway over followers of Christ!  

I meet people who say they are skeptical of organized religion.  Me too!  And I think Jesus would agree with them.  Instead, the church should be a gathering of people within the community who seek to make the community a better place. 

"As Robert McAfee Brown once said about the meaning of life, it is "our task to create foretastes of [the Kingdom of God] on this planet -- living glimpses of what life is meant to be, which include art and music and poetry and shared laughter and picnics and politics and moral outrage and special privileges for children only and wonder and humor and endless love.""

Finally, we will see the world differently:  "To say that we are all made in the image of God is to acknowledge that there are certain, special qualities of human nature that allow God to be made manifest in us.  It is a statement about God's love for humans but also a statement abou tthe uniqueness and beauty of humans."

Some thoughts and implications I gained from this reading...

1.  I need to communicate the missio Dei more often to Resonate Community Church.  We should never lose sight of the sent and sending God.  "To do what pleases God is not simply a matter of morality, but of sharing in God's life and mission."

2.  I'm glad we structure our Sunday gatherings as we have.  I think that the life of our church is so much more than what happens on Sundays.  However, I want to begin communicating that EVERY encounter we have with one another IS "church".  The stuff we do as a church (Bible studies, serving the community, Sunday gatherings, hanging out) is central to what we do, but just as important - and just as spiritual - are the neighborly pop-ins, impromptu coffees, and running into each other at the store.  Do our conversations reflect this?  Do these encounters remind us and others of Jesus?

3.  I desperately want others in our church to be as inspired and motivated by the mission as I am.  I hope that I can be the kind of leader and example that inspires them to engage in the lives of people - to infuse their lives with faith, hope, and love in a way that is different from "church as usual".   I love how we have such an eclectic mix of people and backgrounds, and how there's little shock about peoples past (or current) struggles.  We genuinely love people, and even if there's some other stuff lacking in "what we do", I'm pleased with that.

Slumdog Millionaire

Wow.   What a great movie.  It works on a lot of different levels, and I would say that the less you know about the plot the better off you'd be.  It's a fun, disturbing, poignant, and tense movie.  But, I think it captures how, even though this world can be all kinds of messed up and evil, hope and love and faith endures.

In Case You Missed It

For everyone who's not on Facebook, here's a video Erika put up last night.  That's my girl!

The Difference

First, a primer on missional churches. Go check that out and then come back here.

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Back already? OK, so you probably didn't read it, but promise you'll bookmark it and read it later.

In the past month, there's been quite the conversation about the roles of attractional churches versus missional churches. Read more here and here and here.

For me, it's beyond the "form" of church, and really lies in the "function". Most of the past conversations about the nature of church focused on form: worship styles, casual dress, whatever. But, the function remained the same: attact people to a central campus, have them passively sit and listen, compare the numbers to the church across town. At first they came because they were expected to, then because we stopped wearing ties, then because we threw in some drums and U2 songs. We were cool and postmodern.

But the function remained the same.

I guess part of my thinking is based on ecclesiology (the nature of the church). I'm sold out on a missional approach and (this is a personality thing), I believe it's the best (and, for me, only) way to do it. At Resonate, the "attraction" isn't found on Sunday, although we try not to be teh suck.

There's a place for attractional churches, I'm not saying there isn't. But my fear is that missional will become a buzzword, just another program to assuage our guilt when we look around us and find that we've trapped ourselves in a church we helped to create but no longer enjoy.

So, I find myself raging against the dying of a missional mindset. I won't go softly into the "you catch 'em, I'll clean 'em" mentality. I'd rather just live among the people, sharing life and truth as it comes.

I talked about that here.

I'm really writing this for myself, just as a reminder. :)

UPDATE: One more thought. I like this question: How do the structures of your church shape and train people in discipleship and mission. This is a question for both attractional and missional. And my answer to the question is why I'm committed to missional church.