Reaching for the Stars...

I'm beginning to wonder if the phrase "too good to be true" might apply to the potential of the Church.

I feel like in my exploration of the emergent church movement and what it would look like for the church to truly be a Christ-centered community that can permeate the surrounding community and create a positive change, that I'm only exploring a fairy tale. I grasp in theory that my age group is generally idealistic, but I think there's an equal level of discouragement that accrues as time passes and these ideologies are never achieved... and I'm left wondering if this discouragement is inclusive of my vision for the church. Is it too much to dream of people living the way someone lived 2,000 years ago? In my discouragement, I'm tempted to think it is. (This is your cue to to tell me to focus on the plank in my own eye and show some grace to the jerks children of God on the freeway...)

The philosophy is simple: Love Wins. It's not even exclusively a Christian ideal; it's the end that all of humanity is searching for in the midst of our own brokenness... but it's the means to that end that we tend to disagree on. Keeping Love at the forefront of life and faith feels like a prospect that's both painfully simple and increasingly impossible at the same time. Not to mention the paradox that occurs when keeping love first means abandoning a life driven by results, so if we're successful at living the way Jesus lived, then succeeding in living like Jesus did is no longer at the forefront of our thoughts and actions.

Blasphemy Corner

As I explore the ever-dynamic world of online-Christianity, I continuously discover that marketing Jesus™ Products is a wonderful way to make a quick buck. Here are some of the highlights I've found (and even purchased on some occasions for their humorous quality):

1. Answer Me Jesus
• The Lord works in mysterious ways and now he will speak to you through this inspired plastic likeness. Hip and holy he possesses the power to amuse and offend. Never again will you have to wonder WHAT JESUS WOULD DO when you hold the answer in the palm of your hand.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
2. 1in3 Trinity Christian Energy Drink
   
• Energize your mind and your body with the new 1in3 Trinity Energy Drink. A special blend handed down from the flourishing vines and trees of the Holy Land mixed with B-vitamins, Vitamin C, herbs and antioxidants, make for an abundant taste and high-powered energy any time of the day. 1in3 Trinity Energy Drink has a lot of taste, but not a lot of calories. Fused with "Fruit of the Spirit," may 1in3 Trinity Energy Drink be the flavor of your life!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
3. In-Souls Christian Shoe Inserts
• In-Souls™ inserts are designed to provide a tangible support to assist Christians to literally "walk in the word of the Lord." Worn in the right shoe, each one provides a related scripture and affirmation. To enhance the spiritual walk with God, the inserts help one to "stand" on His Word, meditating on it day and night. Inserts may be alternated daily to help cultivate the word of God in your life. Look for other In-Souls sets to cover a variety of topics – from trust, obedience, patience and redemption to marriage, work and body image.
  
4. Testa-Mints
• Each sweet (spearmint, peppermint and wintergreen) is individually wrapped in one of 40 different verses from the Old and New Testaments. Their mission: "to be the best at providing daily encouragement to all people and enabling Christians to share their faith with others..." So the next time you're on a train, or killing time in a bus queue, think: Testamint. Pass them round and "do the work of an evangelist." You'll be helping to share the Good Chews.

A Vision for the Church

I would like to preface this by saying that this is hardly original; as a matter of fact, a great majority of the contents of this post are merely highlights of much more seasoned theologians, and I've found a great deal of encouragement from them.

Firstly, I believe the church should be a refuge for the world, not from the world. What does that mean? Anyone who takes a serious look at the ministry and teachings of Jesus cannot deny his heart heart for the poor and his outreach to the ostracized. What would it look like to enter in to intentional community with the outcasts of our own society? Maybe it means being more excited about the presence of a local drug dealer in church on Sunday than the presence of a faithful and generous giver (or anyone else with the far-too-common church celebrity status). We often acknowledge our call to be "not of this world", but why do we often overlook the call to be in the world?

We also know that, as Christians, we're called to "love our neighbor". Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship, made a significant distinction between what he called "cheap grace" and "costly grace". The same distinction should be made when discussing the love we have for our neighbors... cheap love versus costly love. Take the story of the widow's mite, in which a woman gave all that she had among a crowd of men giving out of their excess. That's the kingdom of God at work - Jesus wasn't impressed with those who gave out of their excess, but with those who genuinely sacrificed. What would it look like for an entire congregation to practice costly love (not just financially costly, but costly in every sense of the word)? What would it look like to surrender the dogma and the tradition and the way we always thought it was supposed to be if it meant we could love someone that much more?

Let's look at Huckleberry Finn as an example, because I think there's something key to be grasped. Part way through the book, he was faced with the very real decision of helping his friend Jim, a runaway slave, after he had been recaptured. If he helped Jim escape, he would burn in the fiery pits of hell; or if he did the "right" thing and revealed Jim's location to his slave master, he would secure his eternal safety but have to live with his conscience. In the end, he decided to steal back Jim and says, "All right then, I'll go to hell."

I keep coming back to the question, "What would it look like?" because I think the potential answers for these questions aren't something one person should decide on, but it should be a collective vision for the future of the church.

What will the church looks like as it finalizes its progression past the megachurch era? I don't know, but I'm excited to see how the church will progress in its expression of its spirituality and further pursue its increasingly renewed interest in the person of Jesus.

An Allegory?

I can imagine what it was like from his viewpoint. Actually, scratch that, I have no idea what it must have been like from his perspective. Imagine, for a moment, a man who has been chained and shackled all his life. He's a truly wretched man; he's never known a life free from that bondage. He goes about his life about the same as anyone would because he's not locked in a certain place. Moving around isn't where he's greatly limited, although it would seem quite painful; but his greatest hindrance is in stretching out or standing upright. See, the chains would tighten whenever he reached a certain height, and he could go no further.

When looking from a distance, you can't really see the chains because the man puts his clothes on over them. The chains are painfully obvious to anyone within a close proximity of the man though. Upon a discussion with the man regarding his chains, it would quickly become quite clear that he has grown to accept the chains, and even believes them to be a part of his body. The chains ran from limb to limb, and came back to a central lock on his chest. Rather than recognizing the chains for what they were, he believed them to be a part of his body, and equally important as (if not more important than) the other parts. The chains held him together, and he would fall apart if by some chance the chains were to be removed... at least this is what he believed.

Now try to imagine the reaction of someone who stumbled onto a man in this condition. Obviously his first reaction would be to try to help the bound man. Keep in mind though, the bound man believed that the chains were a part of him, and as a result he would fervently protect that lock around his chest as if his life depended on it... because in a way, it did. Fortunately, the man who stumbled on this prisoner of sorts possessed a master key for this particular kind of lock. You can imagine the conversation which would take place in that sort of situation. The man promising freedom is instead thought to be stealing the very objects that hold.

The chained man would have never seen a key before, he would have no idea what it is or what it’s meant for. All he sees is the man coming toward the lock on his chest. Naturally, he became defensive, why should he be willing to give up control of his lock and risk losing those chains that keep his arms and legs from falling off? The man tells him that this key is the only thing that will set him free; but he doesn’t believe him. ‘This man was just born without his chains… I almost feel sorry for the guy, he has so security knowing his arms and legs could fall off at any moment without chains to hold them together.’ But the man was born with chains; he knows everything the chained man has ever known, and more. It was the same scenario when another upright man gave him the key to unlock his chains, and now it was his turn.

Hesitantly, the chained man loosened his grip on the lock hanging across his chest, and allowed the upright man to hold it, and to use the key. Of course he was nervous; he had released all control over what held him together. With his eyes closed as tightly as possible, he heard the chains clang together, and hit the floor. Slowly, the man opened his eyes, and looked at his arms and legs; they hadn’t fallen off. ‘I bet they’ll fall off once I get up and move around,’ was the loudest of a thousand thoughts running through the man's mind.

Surely enough, I eventually stood upright and walked; nothing fell off. I began running and jumping; still nothing. I've been truly free ever since.

Where Are My Priorities?

There are a few things that have been on my mind over the past couple days that I figure should be written down. The first, and most prominent, is the emergent church (both what it means and what it looks like), but I'll dive into what I think it is in a later post. There are two smaller things I've been chewing on though...

The first thing is something I actually read in an article by Chris Munroe in an online emergent publication, so I can't really take any credit for it. (Should we be at all concerned with taking credit for our contributions to the emergent discussion? Maybe I'll come back to that some other day.) Anyways, in his article, he brought up the issue of whether we as evangelical Christians have so emphasized "inviting Jesus into our hearts" that we've neglected the importance of being "in Christ". I think the ramifications for such a distinction are huge: it could mean the difference between understanding Jesus as someone who we invite to participate in something larger than Himself (that something being our lives), or understanding Jesus as that something bigger that we're invited to participate in. It could mean the difference between "accepting" Jesus and "following" Jesus.

The second thing I've been mulling on is a phrase I heard during a prayer on Sunday. God calls us to "live above the issue". I've never heard it worded that way, and perhaps I'm just getting caught up in semantics, but I think there's something key to living like Jesus there. Even with the New Covenant, Jesus abolish the Law (or "issues"), but He fulfilled them. The issue is no longer defining the law and laying out definitively the way in which we live that is most glorifying to God, but the heart-condition we have when we live our lives. Take the woman at the well, for example: according to the issues, she didn't stand a chance. She was a Samaritan. She was a woman. She was divorced. Five times. She was having sex outside of marriage. She worshipped at the wrong Temple. Jesus had no rope or bucket to draw this "Living Water". The issues go on and on. Jesus didn't ignore these issues; in fact, He faced them head on and brought them all to the surface. He rose above the issues, and changed this woman's life. What would it look like to live above the issue today? Maybe instead of worrying about homosexuality, we would focus on James, who happens to struggle with homosexuality. Maybe instead of worrying about whether women should be pastors, we focus on Rachel who feels like she's been called to vocational ministry. The issues are still there, but what would it look like to focus instead on the person once held captive by the issue?

An Introduction of Sorts

It's hard writing an introduction to an unknown, and currently nonexistent, audience. I suppose the most obvious place to start is the basics: my name is Ryan, and I'm currently a junior youth ministry major at Azusa Pacific University. My display name is Matsiko because that was the name given to me during me short stay in Uganda this past summer, and it means "Hope". In all respects, I pretty much fit the mold of your stereotypical religion-major - I'm frustrated with contemporary American church, among other things, and don't know what to do about it. Hopefully, however, that last part about not knowing what to do will change over time as my experience, maturity, and hopefully wisdom, grow. I've noticed my frequent use of the word hopeful so far... let's pray that it's a consistent theme throughout the life of this blog.

While I doubt I'll ever hold a steady audience of more than a few, I hope to share my increasingly-liberal, postmodern/emergent, not-yet-arrived but still-young-enough-to-know-everything spiritual journey, reflections, and musings with those interested.