Becoming Christian Vs. Being Christian

I've had many, many conversations centering around what the biggest thing is that makes them cringe when thinking about their past church experiences. A majority of the time it has to do with the over-used and abused message that we're all sinners, going to hell unless we say a prayer of salvation and accept Jesus as our "lord and Savior".  Now, before the hateful comments start coming, give ear to WHY this message is like fingernails on a chalkboard for many.

Let me begin with a story of my own.  As I posted recently, I lost my grandfather a little over a week ago.  He was a fantastic person with a life full of stories.  To me, he was the embodiment of what living looks like.  Yet at his funeral very little about his life was mentioned.  Now I disclaim that I had no say in the funeral, that was for my grandmother, mom, and uncles to prepare.  The pastor was placed in charge of everything, and so he did what he thought best.  I am not complaining nor criticizing...simply using this as an example.  

There was one story told of my grandfather.  The pastor did a fantastic job talking to the audience/family about the allowing their emotions to run their course.  But the majority of the time was the same old sermon that you can hear in most any church in America on any Sunday morning.  Rather than being about my grandfather, it was more about trying to appeal to everyone else to make haste and become a Christian so that you will know where you are going when you die.  

I know of many churches where this happens at every funeral the pastor presides over at their church.  I know of many more churches where this is the ONLY sermon/teaching that you will ever hear on a Sunday.  It gets old.  It loses its effectiveness.  I dare say, overexposure dilutes the enormity and significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  I dare say that even more, it leaves those that have become a Christian in this limbo because they are never taught what to do with that after, because each Sunday they have to hear the same message.  For many pastors its only about "getting them in and getting them saved".  Well, that doesn't cut it for the emerging world-view.  They want more!  They want to learn what it means to LIVE as a Christian.

Think about modern Christianity's focus in America.  It has, for the most part, been about becoming a Christian.  Now however, people want to experience the rich, active lives that faith brings them.  When these people read and study the teachings of Christ, they see less and less of a focus on becoming a Christian, and a huge focus on living a life of faith and vitality.  The focus has shifted from becoming Christian, to being Christian!

However, this is hard for churches to change, because the focus goes far deeper than the inability to prepare a different sermon each week. Take a look at our iconography.  The main icon of Christianity is that of the Cross.  The cross was an icon for the Romans and their subordinates long before Christians adopted it.  It was a symbol of pain, torture, empirical rule, conformity, and ultimately, death.  The symbols that the earliest Christians used was not the symbol of the Cross, rather they were symbols of life like the shepherd, the Ichthys (fish), and the lamb.  There are writings as early as the second century that speak of the use of the cross, but many historians agree that it wasn't until 326CE that the sign of the cross became a common and universalized symbol of Christianity.

Why 326CE? Because of the rule of Constantine who united Rome under the Cross.  In fact, Constantine took up the cross after his conversion as his banner of war.  The Cross has always meant "death".  When we hang the crosses in our churches, we are centering our subconscious and subliminal on the message of death.  I know that the message of the death and resurrection of Christ (this is why protestants adopted the empty cross icon over the crucifix) has been central, but we've also taken out the signs and thus the message of life; the lessons of living!

People today see enough suffering and death in the world.  They want a message of hope.  And while most Christians would agree that the story of Christ's death is essentially one of hope, the stock portrayal of that story is one of condemnation, sin, death, hell, and overall: hopelessness. These "fear tactics" overshadow any message of hope in the story.  There is a hunger for a new way to live.  A way to live out hope in our everyday lives.  A way to actually DO something about the pain and suffering in our world, which Jesus did indeed address far more than he did the message of death.  We are leaving people behind when we focus our attention only on the one message.  Rather, we should be modeling our churches after Christ; presenting a holistic message of practical living.  Living that involves love, peace, forgiveness, etc... 

People are hungry enough, and if they see the vitality of others living and helping, they will seek out how to become Christian, but are more interested and affected by being Christian first!

Thoughts?

(The picture above is of a Tau Cross, the earliest representations of the cross in Christianity.  Now best known in correlation with St. Francis of Assisi)

Jesus Sing-A-Longs: More Than Just A Fun Tune?

This is from artist and blogger David Hayward entitled Inaugural Hopes.

It really caught my attention especially as much hate-filled language as we have had floating around in the last year in America. Our politics and religion seem to have become more vocal about their prejudices.  

We place people in nice neat categories such as a race, and think that this one specific category defines who they are.  Yet people are people... they extend beyond and even defy catagorization.  Yet, we label them as this or that in order to take the human element out of our hatred, fear, and judgement!  Its just easier that way.  

Yet...lest we forget, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world"!  We are ALL God's children regardless of race, creed, sexuality, religion, etc...

The only label that truly defines us all is the title of "human".  

I wonder if we should add a few more lines to the verse of the song? It has failed to keep up with our growing prejudices.  "For God so loved the world" surely exceeds simply primary colors!

Thoughts?

On Death and loss

Death Stands Above Me

Death stands above me, whispering low

I know not what into my ear:

Of his strange language all I know

Is, there is not a word of fear.

--Walter Savage Landor

Today I lost one of the best people I've ever known. My grandfather was 81, and he faced death as he faced life; without fear. Although he had lung cancer, and his final days found trouble breathing, Death was kind to him. Perhaps in some small way it was repaying him for the kindness and love that he showed others in his life.

He did not fear death for he did not fear life. I think there has to be some sort of correlation here! For if one lives life and all of its trials and tribulations without fear, then what does death have that it can hold over us?

The unknown?

The uncertainty?

Judgement?

No, as much as we think we know about death, we truly know very little. We believe a lot, but know next to nothing.

I believe that death whispered in my grandfathers ear, and his words were words of comfort. I'd like to believe that even as my grandfather's hand turned cold, he took death's warm and inviting hand and follow to where ever death might lead. What comes next is referred to as many things. Some may call it heaven and some may call it oblivion, but I call it the next step on his journey.

I imagine my grandfather telling death that he wasn't ready to leave all of us that he loved and cared for. Death however, is leading the way, telling him of how his children and grandchildren will live their lives. He will tell Papa of the impact that he had made on all of our lives, and how those ripples will carry on to our children and theirs.

My grandfather will be missed more than he will ever know, by more people than I will ever know. He has touched so many lives, and he lived his life showing me what it means to truly live and care for others.

In Memory of Hayden Robinson (1928 -2009)

Feel free to not only share your thoughts, but also your own stories!

Biblical Criticism and Postmodern Christians

An interesting post by Tony Cartledge @ Campbell Divinity School over at his blog. The post is entitled: Biblical criticism, when the new becomes old. (click title and give it a read!)

Are those of us who embrace more postmodern methods of exegesis and interpretation throwing away the academic approaches we learned in our studies in favor of other preferred methods? Simply because we have moved past modernity, doesn't mean that we leave behind all of the experiences and methods available to us behind with it. That's assuming that we've truly left modernity behind, which I argue that we are still in transition and have not arrived.

No, if we are truly experience gatherers, then we must use as many tools at our disposal for understanding and interpreting the Bible as possible. If we don't, then we are not what we claim to be as postmodern Christians. In fact, it takes us away from our claimed "holistic approach" back to simply picking and choosing once again. It takes us out of the conversation, and puts us back in a bubble. It deceives us since it is a different bubble than the Christianity out of which most of us emerged, but it is still a bubble that ignores realities.

your thoughts?

Emerging Greatly

Something that a wise woman said to me over the summer keeps haunting me. She said that people are opposed to purposeful change because in order to pursue change one must admit that that which is the current approach is no longer working. In essence; admit that something is wrong...and no one ever wants to admit that something is wrong!

I know I've mentioned that before on here, but like I said, it keeps nagging at me. I have seen this in my own life. Ever since a year and a half ago when I was fired from the church I was working at because of power trips and protecting the status quo (see this post for the story), I have allowed myself to get depressed, lose management of myself, and completely change my lifestyle. Where I was once always bright, hopeful and energetic, I now found myself slow, sedentary, and pessimistic. If depressed is the opposite of vitality, then I was surely depressed.

Lately I've tried to take back control of my own life and one of the first things I realized I needed to do was loose the wait I had gained since losing my job. My wife has had a lot of success with Weight Watchers and so (along with many other new-years resolutioners) I signed up Monday. It focuses not on being a diet, but a change of lifestyle. And that is exactly what I need... I need to change my lifestyle in more than just my eating habits in order to completely move past the pain of being burned by people and a place I loved.

Before Monday could happen though, I had to come to a point where I was ready to admit that something needed to change. Something was not right, not optimal in my life, not VITAL, and thus CHANGE NEEDED TO OCCUR. I now better understand what that wise woman said to me last summer about change!

Of course, this hit me on a much deeper level as I've been reading The Great Emergence By Phyllis Tickle. In the first chapter she argues that the great emergence is happening in the world but churches usually take one of two positions on it. She draws a corollary between how churches approach the changing zeitgeist to how people approach changing seasons. (I've added a little to her analogy below)

1) They prepare for the upcoming season beforehand. They purchase gloves, scarves and hats for the winter, and sometimes even pull out the heavier fall jackets to address the transition even before the new season arrives.

2) They decide to wait until the new season arrives, see what it brings, and then decide if, when, and how they might change with the climate.

I would argue that there is a 3rd approach, which is simply no approach at all. This groups ignores the inevitable change at best, and argues loudly against it at worst.

Change is coming. There's nothing we can do to stop our world from progressing and changing. The question then becomes, "when are we going to admit that there is a need for us as Christians and the Church to change along with it in order to remain relevant and VITAL both THROUGHOUT the transition and when the new season has already arrived?" Like me deciding to make a lifestyle change, I had to stop wallowing in my own sloth and self-pity and become proactive. Likewise I think that many churches and Christians need to think about doing the same!

I say this, not to be degrading or cynical, but to hold a candle of hope. I don't hate the Church. I love the Church. If I didn't love her so much, then I would not have been hurt as bad as I was when she and her people threw me to the street. No, the church is like a lover who has gone astray and I pray for her return. I want to take part in any way I can in her revival and renewal. In the same way I love Christ. I love Christ even more than I do the Church. Yet since I love them both, I don't want to see them struggle and fight death and irrelevancy, because that is what many churches and Christians are fighting. I would much rather see them struggle to come up with new creative ways to remain relevant during the great emergence. Why? Because Christ is relevant as much now as he's ever been...maybe even more so than ever before. Why? Because people are searching. People are looking for a life worth living. People are looking for hope, love, joy, peace, and all of the other things that Christ brought.

It's a humbling experience to admit that something I really didn't want to face needed to change. But for my health....for my vitality...for those that I love, I sought out change!

Blogging WIth Pictures

Check out my new Photoblog: IMAGinE Photography

I will post pictures that I take and sometimes talk about them. I sometimes will just post them to see what thoughts and feelings it might invoke in others.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

j