PETA
OK, to start off this round. I love my dog, Steve. I also love petting the soft fur of kitties and bunnies. That being said, PETA gets a big, fat "FOR REAL?". They are holding a giant protest outside of an annual evaluation meeting for Proctor and Gamble. (They make the glorious smell of my Old Spice, Cool Rain Solid Deodorant, as well as IAM's dog food.) They are protesting the use of dogs as test subjects for dog food.! Are you kidding me? They are saying that dogs and cats are house pets and shouldn't be used as test animals. What about mice? How is PETA not outside every cancer clinic every day? I am going to start a new PETA called PEETA. "People for the Equal and Ethical Treatment of Animals." Let me just insert again, for those who are PETA members, I love animals and don't think they should be tortured or anything, but they are still animals. I once ate a live snake though, that could be pretty torturous. And, how do we decide which ones are better than the others. Doggy . . . cute, you are in. Rat . . . yucky, so it's OK to sell poison at the drug store.
The British are Coming
Julie and I are excited about several shows that are on TV currently. We have a VCR so we can tape shows while we are working and then watch them without commercials. If you don't have a V C R, you should hook it up. Anyways, out of the 6 top shows on TV this year, like 4 of them have lead actors from the UK. They all throw on a very good American accent and are totally believable. Then they go on American talk shows and we simple Americans marvel at their ability to fool us so completely. There is no bigger meaning to this part than me just saying that is funny how we import our actors. Are there many American actors in Britain? Is this all because we are the only nation willing to sit and watch anything and everything that runs through the tube? hmmmm
The Talmud and the Church
Briefly, it seems that again and again I am running into the problem of dealing with churches or people in churches being stuck in their traditions. More specifically the problems associated with said 'stuckness'. It is so interesting that when we read the New Testament, we see that all of the conflict that Jesus has with people are based on religious folks stuck in traditions. Stuck to the point where their actions became their God, as opposed to God directing their actions. It is interesting that most of the issues were not merely on the law but on the human interpretations of God's law that were recorded in the Mishnah which later made up a part of the larger exposition in the Talmud. Lots of weird words, but the point is, how does this happen over and over. Churches get so caught in their own methodology that they miss their God given call to reach people.
I have been reading about this concept in some classes this semester, but it has also been made painfully real after spending some time with a group of young people recently. It was apparent that all of these people had deep roots in the church, but have all gone down a different path. They know the stories, they have served in church and they have been totally dropped by the church. They are all searching for a way to fill voids in their lives with drugs, sex and alcohol. I understand rebellion, I have been there. This was supremely different, however, because for this group, rebellion has moved to lifestyle. They have embraced a Universalist theology, believing that all roads will lead to God. While they are seeking, in a way, the only church they know cares nothing about connecting them, is only interested in judging people, and totally hypocritical upfront. It is a bad rap the church gets (which is not without merit) from the outside world, but these kids are from the church. I remember coming out of my own rebellious phase, thinking that my church dropped the ball and that they did not invest in me. I am realizing that, to some extent, it had to be my decision and the church isn't all about me. The larger issue was not that the church didn't invest in me, but that it was solely interested in the skills I had to further its own methodology. These kids were the same. Their church never challenged them in ministry or in their faith, but rather reinforced for them the appearance of faith. The deeds were more important. I wish I could have put my time there on video, and then sit every pastor and church leader down in front of it to hear the conversations and see the devastation written on their faces. And then ask how important is it really to wear that? or painfully fill a choir, or throw the band together? to sing that song? to have that program?
How often does this happen? Maybe if we saw it, we would be challenged not to put the band-aide on the appendicitis anymore.
I am really struggling with this and am still processing my experience. I could probably go on for a long time, but I'll leave it for now with a quote from a guest prof from my class today. The dude is 80 years old and has been ministering in the church since the 50's. (Which means he was a part of the large growth movement that developed most of the traditions we deal with today) He actually wrote a book which formalized Rick Warren's purpose driven church. The guy was old and did not speak with tons of . . .'pizaz?' But he spoke with a burning hot passion for the church to be real. I loved that this older guy had no interest in traditions, but rather in seeing the church be the church, authentic. He said this about methodology,
"When the horse dies . . . dismount." -Dr. Ellis
The Secret We Can't Talk About
12 years ago
2 comments:
Great stream-of-consciousness post buddy!
On your third section, I wanted to encourage you, if you haven't already, to begin investigating the field of theological deconstruction. There really is an art form to pushing through traditions and assumptions to arrive at a better, more faithful place on the other side.
Also, though I am encouraged that someone so advanced as the professor you mention would have the ability to say something like that, I would say that we often need to go further and ask whether or not we should have been riding the horse in the first place. True, there is a place for considering old and new wineskins, but we seem to all-too-quickly confuse what that actually means and looks like with merely hopping on whatever train, or horse to stick with the analogy, seems most attractive (culturally relevant) at the time.
Now go pet Steve and douse a rat with cologne and lotion to see what happens.
Hi Sean.
I've been thinking about that group of really jaded churched folks that you were telling me about last time we talked.
I have met more than 1 or 2 younger very talented Christian people recently that in my opinion have not been cared about -
by being given too much of what they think they need because their talent will fuel progress faster.
In short, I see that it is so tempting as a leader of some ministry thing to care more about what people can do for the ministry more than for their own soul - because caring for the soul is something that doesn't necessarily show immediate outward results for the ministry and therefore is viewed as a waste of time. This temptation is directly related to the "love of the world - the boasting of what we have and what we do".
And it seems that there's a lot of young talented people coming across my path as of late that are basically begging for someone to care more for them more than what they do.
I know that we should not so easily divorce the two to the point where they live a life of consumption - for a life in Christ is certainly about giving our lives away.
But maybe for some, a season of consuming care from another with no expectation of anything back may be the only thing to heal the resentment the builds up from being treated in this way.
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