iPod Theology

I recently came across a blog whose author identifies himself as "Post-Emergent". It just sounds so cool, doesn't it? The bleeding edge of theology. It seeks not to re-imagine the church, but rather to rediscover it. It makes all prior theologies obsolete (including, oddly enough, the theology it seeks to rediscover). Adapt or be left in the theological stone age. The eternal truths of the Gospel are changing so fast that only the most theologically capable can keep up, while the rest are either dragged along or left to find their spiritual development in Left Behind books and being Purpose Driven.

There's such a huge problem with this. In the ever-developing search for what it means to live with the conviction of who Jesus was and how He lived, we (including/especially myself) have tended to treat theology as the latest consumer gadget. Sure, the last generation of iPods are fine and all, but what about the latest generation and its ability to play videos while making you breakfast and bathing your dog? The latest revision holds the greatest potential. I think we've bought into that myth when it comes to our theology.

Does that mean I'm not going to be "emergent" anymore? No, I think the emerging church and its way of doing things has struck a nerve with my generation and addresses key questions and worldviews that younger generations have, generations who, when asked to conform or leave, will much sooner leave. I think that emergent theology is the best way of communicating and engaging who Jesus was from the existing postmodern worldview the majority of us hold. But the idea of pursuing new theology just to stay on the bleeding edge is ridiculous and entirely inconsistent with the Gospel we seek to articulate.

Even the Rocks Cry Out

If we believe that God is omnipresent - that He exists everywhere and can be found everywhere - then where is He in the midst of the profanity of urban hip-hop culture?

This question has been at the forefront of my mind all week, as I've been taking a one-week intensive course on urban youth ministry.

One of our assignments has been to listen to and dissect the lyrics of various songs by Tupac Shakur. He's best known for his rough language and for "Thug Life". I was obviously skeptical at first... how can songs about "niggaz, bitches, and hoes" have any redemptive message? Well, I have to say, if you can read the lyrics for what they are and look past the language (which is more culturally stigmatized than biblically condemned), then it's very clear that Tupac was a social revolutionary and quite possibly a follower of Jesus. He advocated for the poor and the oppressed, to downtrodden. He sought to reform education (and was actually, as a self-taught high school drop-out, more educated and well-read at the age of 18 then most students entering ivy-league schools).

Luke 19:40-42 says, "Jesus answered, 'I tell you, if these [disciples] were silent, even the stones would shout out.' As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, 'If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.'"

Has the Church's abandonment of the inner-city and failure to engage the urban hip-hop culture caused "even the rocks" - the gangster rappers and "thug lifers" - to cry out for the redemption of the world around them and the ushering in of the kingdom of God? To say that it's "just South Central LA" or "just Chicago" or "just Detroit", and that there's nothing the Church can or should do, goes entirely against the Gospel that we believe in and are obligated to communicate to "all nations" - all cultures, even inner-city cultures. Have the rocks begun to cry out because of our silence?

Some other questions I'm left with: What do we do when the "Jesus" presented to urban cultures in inconsistent with the Jesus of the Gospels? Furthermore, what are we to do when maybe the "Allah" that is presented to urban cultures is more consistent with the Jesus of the Gospels than the "Jesus" they've been presented? If someone in an urban culture joins the Nation of Islam after having been communicated the Jesus of the Gospels with the name "Allah", should we foster and encourage their newfound spirituality, or discount it because it's worshiping Jesus by the wrong name?

I don't know, to be honest. At this point I'm left with more questions than answers...

Those Postmodernists Are Ruining Everything!

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 71% Modern Liberal 54% Classical Liberal 46% Roman Catholic 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% Reformed Evangelical 25% Fundamentalist 21%

The Day Metaphors Took Over...

I've come to an interesting place where I feel like I've lost the crossroad between theology and spirituality. I was talking to one of my mentors the other day about this and he offered me an interesting metaphor...

Living out your faith is a lot like driving a car. You can drive for 100,000 miles and still know nothing about the car that you drive. The only indicators you have that something is wrong are little red lights, which can easily be missed, and when the whole car dies due to neglect. When something goes wrong and you know nothing about your car, no matter how much you've driven, you're still ultimately at someone else's mercy. Being a student of theology is like learning to be a mechanic. You learn the ins-and-outs of the inner-workings of the car, and not only can you interpret the little red lights, but you can hear the varying sounds of the engine, you can not only sense when something isn't right, but you can diagnose and even correct the problem at times.... The problem is when you forget how to drive in the process of becoming a mechanic.

Another metaphor that has stuck out to me recently is this:

All bread, no water.

Simple, I know. But I feel like, while I've had no shortage of substance, of nuggets to chew on and think about, and the intellectual aspect of my faith is flourishing... There's still no refreshing stream of life. There's no fresh and revitalizing source of Life that is constantly flowing and always available to me. I'm beginning to understand the words that Jesus spoke in a new way, "Man cannot live on bread alone." We always make the distinction between physical bread and spiritual water... but what if the same is true for the distinction between spiritual bread and spiritual water? After going for a while without water, adding more bread will only make your mouth drier.

I don't want to leave this on a downer, because it's not. Every pastor I've talked to has said that going through the frustrations I am and asking the questions I'm asking is an essential part of becoming a pastor. It's encouraging, but sucks at the same time.

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary: pure and holy, tried and true.

What does it mean to be a sanctuary? A place of safety and refuge. The inmost and holiest part of the Church. What does it mean to ask God to prepare us to be that? I think I'll explore this a little later...

Not a Part of Your Society

I had an interesting youth culture experience on Friday night. I know of no better way to preface it. My adolescent culture & evangelism class required me to "observe adolescents" in their natural environments for a total of four hours. One could easily complete this task by visiting the local Starbucks on a Saturday afternoon or sitting on a bench in the mall for an extended period. For some reason, I felt like the mall kids and Starbucks drinkers are already reached out to enough, why not go some place a bit more marginalized?

I soon found myself at the Showcase Theater; a local venue for adolescents to see their favorite underground heavy metal bands. Before I left, my parents asked me if "bad kids" would be at this concert (I find it ironic telling this part of the story considering that my parents most likely make up half the audience of this blog.) I told them that the kids who would be at the concert would not be "bad", they would just be kids you wouldn't likely run into in a church setting.

Even though I knew the kids at this concert would be perceived as "bad kids" by the greater society, I still don't think that prepared me fully for the night ahead. When I got there, I immediately smelled marijuana lingering in the air, and it only grew stronger as I walked toward the theater. There was a line of kids going around the building waiting to get in. I bought my ticket and took my place in line behind a guy who looked about 16 years old. He had dread locks and a black leather vest covered in metal spikes. He had a few patches on his pants as well, representing various bands. (One other guy, about the same age, came up to him and said, "I've never seen anyone else with a Goat Brigade patch, that's f**kin' awesome!") A few minutes later, the same spikey-vested kid turned and faced the wall, and pulled out a small pipe. He proceeded to smoke what was either some heroin or crystal meth.

Once I finally got into the theater, something struck me: this felt like the youth room at the church I'm currently working at. Granted, there were some major differences, but the overall feel was shockingly similar to a room at the church.

The first band came up, and I heard the lead vocalist address the crowd and say what I though was, "Hail Satan!"... It turns out I was right. He then proceeded to invite everyone in th crowd up on stage to have a prayer circle to Satan. What struck me was that these kids who most enthusiastically ran up on stage to join the band members only seemed excited to do so because it was the radical and rebellious thing to do. In a city like Corona, it's a safe bet to say that most of these kids came from conservative Christian households... the rebellion against such a setting would then understandably be to have a prayer circle for Satan.

The band then proceeded to play about six songs, all of which sounded the same and none of which I could hear or understand the words to. They ended with a "thank you" and one last "hail Satan", and the second band took the stage. One interesting thing about the second band, aside from their "musical stylings", was that their second (and most popular song) was called "Not a Part of Your Society". I wish I was able to hear the lyrics of the song and pull some meaning from them, but when they're being screamed through a microphone in much the same manner as the "temper-tantrum" scream of a toddler, it becomes difficult to discern what's being said.

While moshing had been occurring through every performance down in the mosh pit, I noticed during this song that there was one rather pretty girl down the mosh pit. She didn't look like she belonged there, and she was physically rougher than anyone in the pit. This didn't seem to fly right with the regulars, and I watched from a distance as she got a bit roughed up and her backpack torn.

I noticed the smell of the marijuana begin to linger inside the room this time, so after a few minutes I decided to step outside for some fresh air. The next thing I knew, the same girl who was roughed up in the mosh pit was thrown out of the theater by security. The right side of her face was covered in blood after taking a few punches. She was leaning up against the rail no more than a foot away from me, screaming and cussing and demanding to be let back into the club. She was surrounded by her friends, which shocked me - it would seem that associating yourself with this girl might get you thrown out of the theater as well. They didn't seem to care as much about getting themselves kicked out as much as caring about their friend and getting her cleaned up.

All this to say, I spent the evening with a group of kids who would traditionally be called "bad kids". But the thing is, I wasn't in any immediate danger. (Admittedly, I was in a situation where wisdom and discernment needed to be exercised, but I wouldn't say I was ever in a dangerous situation that night.) While I was there, I didn't feel a sudden urge to leave and get out of there... quite the contrary, my heart broke for these kids. As a result, I didn't want to leave; I wanted to be there more. These are the kids who have fallen through the cracks of the church. I know it, those kids know it, the greater society knows it... the only ones who have turned a blind eye to the abandonment of these teenagers is the church.

I want those kids in the church. Not to change them into people they don't want to be, not to conform them into the image of the upper-middle class white American church... but to simply love on them.

How do we show these kids the Jesus who dined with sinners and saved his sharpest criticism for religious leaders?

God wants these kids in the church.
He wants to transform them into the people they were meant to be,
to give them the lives they were meant to live,
to conform them into His image,
and to love them.

Who was Jesus?

I'll be honest... I have no idea how to start this post. That doesn't mean it's going to be a downer, there's just so many places to go with such a question. The short answer is this: I don't know.

I know that to be a Christian means to live with the conviction of who Jesus was and how He lived. But how can we live with that conviction if we fail to grasp who Jesus was and what exactly He did?

Jesus was a Jewish carpenter who thought about his religion in radically different ways; ways that eventually got him killed. He was a man who wept. He was a man who reached out beyond the social stigmas and touched lepers, dined with tax collectors, and spoke with prostitutes, more often than not at the cost of His ritual cleanness and religious reputation. He was a man who spoke with great authority. He was a man who taught in parables in circumstances that most teachers today would cause most teachers today to use the simplest terms possible. He was a man who called all kinds of people to follow him before they even knew who He was. He was a man who challenged those around him to rethink everything they thought they knew about faith, life, and the world around them.

I've called myself a follower of this man for several years now, and yet I can look back and see how often I've totally neglected who Jesus was and how he lived, and at times even spoke against certain aspects of the way I now know that He lived. I also look at myself now and wonder how much of what I do and believe and understand about the world around me in incongruent with who Jesus was and how He lived. I wouldn't say I worry about it, because God's gracious enough to love me in spite of whatever I may believe about Him... but I certainly hope that whatever inconsistency I may have with the life Jesus lived causes as little pain and divide in those who are looking for Jesus in me.

God either has a sense of humor or is a horrible judge of character when choosing who goes into ministry.

The Brain Fart of a Ministry Student

These two weeks have gone by rather quickly, but I suppose I have to choose between quantity and quality when it comes to posting.

One thing that's been on my mind the past few days has been the legitimacy of insight offered by non-Christians about how the Church is doing. Unfortunately, this insight is more often than not rejected as hateful criticism and ill-hearted judgment. Quite the contrary though, I think outsiders are some of the significant and unexpected modern-day prophets God could have possibly utilized in pointing out where the Church has and is falling short. One of these shortcomings is that the Church is more likely to voice opposition than support... We're known for what we're against rather than what we're for.

Take homosexuality for example. A recent national survey showed that 91% of outsiders view Christians as anti-homosexual. It saddens me that the word "tolerance" has become a four-letter word in evangelical circles, and that any mention of the word is often immediately and unknowingly mentally translated into blind acceptance and apathy.

I am probably going to seem very scattered for the next paragraph or so (if I don't already). I think the solution to our problem lies in the way we do evangelism. Recent years have led us to start from the point of our fallen nature. That's why nonbelievers are sinners who have fallen short of God's perfect standard and need to repent and accept Jesus in order to avoid the eternal torment of Hell. The problem with this approach is that we've forgotten a part of our story... our Creation. When we start from our fallenness, we forget that each and every person bears the Image of God, and God originally called us "very good". If we start from the point of Creation, the way we do evangelism looks radically different. There are then no inherently "bad people", and we begin to dine with prostitutes and tax collectors.

If we start from the point of Creation rather than the point of Fallenness, then the way we address issues such as homosexuality also looks radically different. We've been known up until this point for what we're against rather than what we're for. I'm for authentic, affirming, and holy sexuality. (By "holy", I mean "set apart"). I believe God designed this sexuality to take the form of heterosexual, monogamous, committed relationships within the context of a publicly acknowledged marriage. I'm not for anything that falls short of this God-designed form of sexuality, whether it be heterosexual or homosexual. I sympathize with those who struggle with same-sex attraction. I believe homosexuality is a distortion of the gift of sexuality that God has given us, and is reflective of our fallen nature. All sexual sin is especially destructive and cuts to the core of who we are.

That being said, I think we need to approach homosexuality and those who struggle with same-sex attraction with extreme compassion. I can think of nothing more difficult than finding out that my sexuality and affections are a distortion of God's design and that I need to change it. Let's not forget that people who struggle with same-sex attraction are still made in the Image of God and should be treated as such. The church needs to be a refuge for the world, not from the world, and I want people from all walks of life to feel like they're where they belong when they're within the walls of a church, no matter what they've done or struggle with. Something is wrong when the people who need Jesus most feel unwelcome by those claiming to represent Him.