"Will you play Barbies with me daddy?"
Since I know that question definitely has a shelf life, I say yes to my five and a half year old daughter. I suppose it won't be long until I hear "Can I have $30 to go to the movies and borrow the car tonight daddy?"
I don't know how to play Barbies that well. Well, maybe I do. I just don't like it that well. What bugs me is that I know the stories of Barbie better than I know the stories of the Baptized.
I know how to be self-centered, obsessed with how I look and what other people think about me. I know how to put other people down and categorize people according to their socio-economic status. I know how to get a temporary high by buying more stuff that I will forget about in the next couple of days. And I know how to feign "niceness"in order to get what I want. See, I know how to play Barbies . . . and I don't like it so well.
Since last Sunday my daughter really got into helping set up and participate in a baptism renewal service with our church, I thought, "why not let's re-narrate Barbie?" What would a conversation among Baptized Barbies look like? I have to admit it felt awkward and weird as I began to speak as if Barbie were baptized.
When one Barbie asked the other, "Why aren't you wearing a dress?" (with the same tone of voice that you would ask someone, "Why are you such a loser?"). The Barbie replied with something lame sounding like, "I put on Christ and He is all I need to wear." (Told you I wasn't very good at this).
Then one of the Barbies died and that was interesting. Instead of pulling out prince charming to come give her a kiss in order to bring her back to life, one of the Barbies suggested we give thanks for her life and remember that she is with Jesus since she too had been baptized and belongs to Jesus. The Barbies then sat around a table of food and talked about how they missed their friend and told funny stories they remembered about her.
Maybe, with more practice, I'll get better at playing Baptized Barbies.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Church We Are
I started reading a disturbing book this week. It's called "UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity." It's disturbing, but good. Sort of like going to counseling or listening to the Old Testament Prophets. It could be the kind of information that leads to a transformation within the church.
The authors researched the opinions of 16 to 29 year olds who are not Christians. What they found was that nearly two out of every five [people in this group] claim to have a bad impression of present-day Christianity. Beyond this, one-third of [this group] said that Christianity represents a negative image with which they would not want to be associated.
What surprised me was that the bad impressions and negative images that this group holds had come from personal experience with the church [Christians] rather than just outside observation. The vast majority of this group went to church in high school and have heard the message of Christ. The reason they hold negative, even hostile, impressions of the church [Christians] is not because of any specific theological perspective. Their negative reactions come from what they have received from Christians.
As one person put it: "Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn't believe what they believe."
The survey found that the majority of 16 to 29 year olds perceive the church to be:
Anti-homosexual (91 percent)
Judgmental (87 percent)
Hypocritical (85 percent)
Too involved in politics (75 percent)
Out of touch with reality (72 percent)
Old Fashioned (78 percent)
Insensitive to others (70 percent)
Boring (68 percent)
Not accepting of other faiths (64 percent)
Confusing (61 percent)
What challenges me is not a desire to be "hipper or cooler" church to turn around these negative impressions of 16 to 29 year olds. I see this as a challenge for the church to embody Jesus more faithfully.
Here is a story to illustrate. It is an adaptation of a story from Sam Wells book "God's Companions."
There was a rural community that for years housed more cows and acreage than people. About 6 years ago this community began to see new development. Since then 10,000 new homes have been built which include people who are diverse culturally, spiritually and economically. As with any change, this one brought some hostility and mistrust over numerous issues. Neighbors, children and adults, bullied one another. Those with administrative or political power used it in ways that spread mistrust.
A new church which began around the beginning of this development had recently completed its first building and invited the community (particularly a number of prominent local people) to join together in an act of worship to mark this significant moment in the church's life.
Adults and children sat together. The service began with an opportunity for people to acknowledge mistakes and frustrations, and ended with a washing of feet for renewed service. Before the Scripture reading a candle was passed around every member of the congregation and each had an opportunity to say a sentence on the theme "what I have discovered in the last six years."
One person on the fringe of the church who had experienced a good deal of conflict said, "I have discovered that the things we have in common are much greater than the things that divide us." Another person, one of the most controversial and outspoken leaders in the neighborhood, looked around a the way adults and children listened to one another and the space that was given to people's imaginations, and said to everyone's amazement, "I have discovered that this church is the soul of this community."
There are times when we must confess that we are who we are perceived to be. But we also must confess that there is a larger story which has a greater claim upon us than our own failures. It is to that larger story that we must look and seek to embody. It is the larger story of Jesus' death and resurrection - the soul of the church.
The authors researched the opinions of 16 to 29 year olds who are not Christians. What they found was that nearly two out of every five [people in this group] claim to have a bad impression of present-day Christianity. Beyond this, one-third of [this group] said that Christianity represents a negative image with which they would not want to be associated.
What surprised me was that the bad impressions and negative images that this group holds had come from personal experience with the church [Christians] rather than just outside observation. The vast majority of this group went to church in high school and have heard the message of Christ. The reason they hold negative, even hostile, impressions of the church [Christians] is not because of any specific theological perspective. Their negative reactions come from what they have received from Christians.
As one person put it: "Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn't believe what they believe."
The survey found that the majority of 16 to 29 year olds perceive the church to be:
Anti-homosexual (91 percent)
Judgmental (87 percent)
Hypocritical (85 percent)
Too involved in politics (75 percent)
Out of touch with reality (72 percent)
Old Fashioned (78 percent)
Insensitive to others (70 percent)
Boring (68 percent)
Not accepting of other faiths (64 percent)
Confusing (61 percent)
What challenges me is not a desire to be "hipper or cooler" church to turn around these negative impressions of 16 to 29 year olds. I see this as a challenge for the church to embody Jesus more faithfully.
Here is a story to illustrate. It is an adaptation of a story from Sam Wells book "God's Companions."
There was a rural community that for years housed more cows and acreage than people. About 6 years ago this community began to see new development. Since then 10,000 new homes have been built which include people who are diverse culturally, spiritually and economically. As with any change, this one brought some hostility and mistrust over numerous issues. Neighbors, children and adults, bullied one another. Those with administrative or political power used it in ways that spread mistrust.
A new church which began around the beginning of this development had recently completed its first building and invited the community (particularly a number of prominent local people) to join together in an act of worship to mark this significant moment in the church's life.
Adults and children sat together. The service began with an opportunity for people to acknowledge mistakes and frustrations, and ended with a washing of feet for renewed service. Before the Scripture reading a candle was passed around every member of the congregation and each had an opportunity to say a sentence on the theme "what I have discovered in the last six years."
One person on the fringe of the church who had experienced a good deal of conflict said, "I have discovered that the things we have in common are much greater than the things that divide us." Another person, one of the most controversial and outspoken leaders in the neighborhood, looked around a the way adults and children listened to one another and the space that was given to people's imaginations, and said to everyone's amazement, "I have discovered that this church is the soul of this community."
There are times when we must confess that we are who we are perceived to be. But we also must confess that there is a larger story which has a greater claim upon us than our own failures. It is to that larger story that we must look and seek to embody. It is the larger story of Jesus' death and resurrection - the soul of the church.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
What Kind of Church?
Over the last four weeks our church has been reading from the Gospel of John. The first week we read from John 10 which includes a strange mixture of metaphors in which Jesus says, "I am the gate" as well as "I am the shepherd." There are certainly many layers of meaning here, but we focused on the way in which these metaphors work together to point the church toward a very "relational God." Because I have a rather simple mind, I decided that the point our church needed to remember from these passages is this: "Stay close to Jesus." Follow him. Go through him. Stay close to him. That's the kind of church we are called to be.
The second week we read from John 14 - A favorite at funerals and arguments with non-Christians. Ironically, the context of the passage includes neither of those occasions. The context of this passage is a small band of Jesus followers who are out numbered by fellow Jews who think the Jesus followers are nuts, Romans who could care less and Jesus who had just announced he was leaving them soon. "What are we supposed to do now?" was the question on these disciples mind. Had they given themselves to the wrong Messiah? To which Jesus answers, "No you've followed the right Messiah." [my paraphrase]. "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." "You can trust me even when it appears that evil and death are having their way . . . they are not!" [my paraphrase again.] So, we too are called to place our trust in Jesus THE WAY, even when it looks as if evil and death are having their way. That's the kind of church we are called to be.
The third week we read more of John 14 when Jesus tells his followers that he would not leave them orphaned. Jesus promised that even though he wouldn't be with them physically, they would experience his presence and power through the Holy Spirit when they put "love in action." Further, they would be capable of this "love in action" because of the Holy Spirit as well. Jesus presence is both the foundation and the result of the church's obedience to put love in action. So, I suppose this passage is calling us to be the kind of church that "makes God's love real" - putting love in action. [By the way, much easier to write about than do because it requires such surrender and vulnerability to God's Spirit.] Nonetheless, it is the kind of church we are called to be.
And on the fourth week we read John 17. Here Jesus stops talking to his disciples and starts talking to God on their behalf. That's a good thing as the church needs all the prayer it can get! The neat thing about this passage is that it moves away from "stuff the church is supposed to do" and focuses on "stuff that Jesus does for the church." What does Jesus do? He prays a prayer entrusting the church to God. That's the kind of church we are called to be, "entrusted to God." Like a group of whitewater river rafters who entrust themselves to the River, the church has been entrusted to God by Jesus. While we don't always work together well, take the right fork, or even stay in the boat, we ought to acknowledge that this still doesn't change the fact that we are still in the River - entrusted to God. And it is God's "current" - the Holy Spirit, that leads us most powerfully toward God's [and our] destination - the redemption of the world.
To conclude this "Sermon series synopsis"I want to share a neat quote from a new book by Daniel de Roulet, "Finding Your Plot in a Plotless World." I found that the quote captures the essence of this series.
"What I would like church to be like is a meeting place of authenticity, in which everyone, believer and nonbeliever alike, is acknowledged to be human and flawed and in need of a God who can do something about it—and we love one another with no strings attached."
The second week we read from John 14 - A favorite at funerals and arguments with non-Christians. Ironically, the context of the passage includes neither of those occasions. The context of this passage is a small band of Jesus followers who are out numbered by fellow Jews who think the Jesus followers are nuts, Romans who could care less and Jesus who had just announced he was leaving them soon. "What are we supposed to do now?" was the question on these disciples mind. Had they given themselves to the wrong Messiah? To which Jesus answers, "No you've followed the right Messiah." [my paraphrase]. "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." "You can trust me even when it appears that evil and death are having their way . . . they are not!" [my paraphrase again.] So, we too are called to place our trust in Jesus THE WAY, even when it looks as if evil and death are having their way. That's the kind of church we are called to be.
The third week we read more of John 14 when Jesus tells his followers that he would not leave them orphaned. Jesus promised that even though he wouldn't be with them physically, they would experience his presence and power through the Holy Spirit when they put "love in action." Further, they would be capable of this "love in action" because of the Holy Spirit as well. Jesus presence is both the foundation and the result of the church's obedience to put love in action. So, I suppose this passage is calling us to be the kind of church that "makes God's love real" - putting love in action. [By the way, much easier to write about than do because it requires such surrender and vulnerability to God's Spirit.] Nonetheless, it is the kind of church we are called to be.
And on the fourth week we read John 17. Here Jesus stops talking to his disciples and starts talking to God on their behalf. That's a good thing as the church needs all the prayer it can get! The neat thing about this passage is that it moves away from "stuff the church is supposed to do" and focuses on "stuff that Jesus does for the church." What does Jesus do? He prays a prayer entrusting the church to God. That's the kind of church we are called to be, "entrusted to God." Like a group of whitewater river rafters who entrust themselves to the River, the church has been entrusted to God by Jesus. While we don't always work together well, take the right fork, or even stay in the boat, we ought to acknowledge that this still doesn't change the fact that we are still in the River - entrusted to God. And it is God's "current" - the Holy Spirit, that leads us most powerfully toward God's [and our] destination - the redemption of the world.
To conclude this "Sermon series synopsis"I want to share a neat quote from a new book by Daniel de Roulet, "Finding Your Plot in a Plotless World." I found that the quote captures the essence of this series.
"What I would like church to be like is a meeting place of authenticity, in which everyone, believer and nonbeliever alike, is acknowledged to be human and flawed and in need of a God who can do something about it—and we love one another with no strings attached."
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