Emergent Brethren

The folks at Missio Dei are currently studying the Gospel of John; we’re in chapter 1. We last studied Matthew’s version of the Sermon of the Mount. In three months, we covered three chapters. If the trend holds, we will be in John for somewhere into 2009. In fact, although it’s been three weeks since we began studying John 1, we can’t seem to get much past the prologue.

Of the Gospels, John’s is my favorite. Written last, it is far the most introspective and creative. Whereas the other three Evangelists, seem to rely on each other and whoever the ‘Q’ source was, John takes another tact entirely. Instead a writing a biography of Jesus, John wrote a theology of Christ. He doesn’t trace Jesus’ life back to his baptism (like Mark), or back to his toddler years (like Luke) or back to his infancy (like Matthew), he tracks back before the creation of the Universe, into the very origin of God. By so doing he begins to reinterpret the meta-narrative by which existence itself is understood… by either Greeks or Jews.

Today I celebrated my 43rd birthday. Nine years ago, when those numbers were reversed into a 34, I remember finally beginning to think of myself as a full grown adult. This year I celebrate the birthday that’s finally got me thinking that I’m gettin old. For the most part that doesn’t bother me much. Those that know me know that I’m still quite young at heart. And aging has its benefits. Now more than ever my faith is quite authentic. Doubts no longer shake me but rather add mystery to the things that I believe. My priorities are almost always Christocentric. And I’ve learned to love work as much as I love leisure. All that came at the hands of father time…

And God my Father

Still sometimes, some things hurt. For example; every morning (and whenever the weather changes abruptly), my wrists and knuckles burn and ache. The same is true of my shoulders. Of course that’s arthritis. Arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that inflames the tissue that surrounds overused joints. In my case, 25 years of disciplined practice on the guitar has deteriorated the connective cushion between the bones in my wrists and hands. My shoulders were damaged by years of heavy lifting. The deterioration caused by those activities now often results in inflammation; and inflammation causes pain.

I think most of us are at risk of the same sort of thing with regard to emotional maturation. As we age and apply spiritual disciplines to the human experience, over time, overuse of those disciplines can result in inflamed, painful emotions. For example, all of us endure petty cruelties throughout the course of our lives. But the discipline of forgiveness requires that we turn the other cheek and make peace with those that hurt us. But as we get older, a lifetime of disciplined ‘cheek turning’ can result in so much scar tissue, that even the slightest offence can inflame our emotions. Which begs a difficult question; what are we to do when practicing a spiritual discipline causes us emotional pain? To be frank, because it’s not a simple problem, there is no easy answer. But it’s a problem worth solving, and I think this is how that works.

When I play guitar my hands hurt… sometimes a great deal. If they don’t ache while I am playing, they are bound to burn and pinch the next day. Yet, never in my life has there been a single day when the fear of that pain has caused me to put down my guitar. In fact, when I first learned to play, I would practice two chords, over and over, until each finger was dented with a blood stained, string shaped callus. And when my fingers hurt I was happy, because the pain I experienced was caused by something I love, In fact, the pain wasn’t a problem, it was evidence that I was improving.

I can’t say the same about my feelings for heavy lifting. Be it furniture, or weights or anything in between, I do not love picking things up. As a result, when I am forced to carry something that’s painful to lift, I either put the thing down, or resent the whole experience. But it’s not the pain that causes me umbrage; it’s the lack of love for the thing to begin with. This means that the only cure for the pain that practicing forgiveness can cause, is love. If we practice forgiveness as a spiritual discipline, merely because Jesus told us to, we will eventually be awash with deep-seated bitterness. Christians are not called to be disciplined; we are called to be disciples. And disciples of Jesus do not love the discipline of forgiveness; they love the people they are forgiving.

Discipleship to Jesus is not something that you can be born into; it is something that you claim by repenting and pledging allegiance. When Jesus called this community together he gave its members a new way to live. He gave us a new way to deal with offenders – by forgiving them, a new way to deal with violence – by suffering, a new way to deal with money – by sharing it. He gave us new patterns of relationships between man and woman, parent and child, employer and employee, and made concrete a radical new vision of what it means to be a healthy, godly person. But we are only capable of living this way if we love (agape) our enemies as well as our friends. We cannot merely love the religious discipline of forgiveness, or church attendance, or service, or honesty, or anything other than the people that Jesus was born to love, and died to save. It is love that transforms our suffering into joy.

In Brian McLaren’s book, Everything Must Change, he writes about “framing stories” and the effects they have on groups and societies (Chapter 9, pp. 65-73). A framing story is that which we tell ourselves and follow in life. He writes on page 67, “If our framing story is wise, strong, realistic, and constructive, it can send us on a hopeful trajectory. But if our framing story is dysfunctional, weak, false, unrealistic, or destructive, it can send us on a downward arc, a dangerous, high-speed joyride through un-peace, un-health, un-prosperity, and even un-life.“.

I think another way to think about the definition of a framing story is, what is the vision that created the group and guides it today.

The idea of a “framing story” is challenging to consider. Our founding fathers, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, certainly began framing our story as a nation. This framed story guides our justice system, I think, more than the other two branches of our government today.

As I read more about the concept of a “framing story”, it made me wonder about congregations, and their framing story. How does their story get started? How does the original framed story impact their lives today? How many are aware of their congregation’s framing story? How can understanding their story impact their future in positive ways? How do they work at re-framing their story, so that it remains relevant to their participants and inviting to new people?

I think so often we follow the script of our framing story almost unconsciously. Thus, it guides us without our consciously reflecting upon, “Is this where we want/need to go?”.

One of the things that excites me about the Emergent Church is their passion for following Christ pushes them to reframe their congregation’s story. Or, in the case of church planting, frame a new story for people to be guided by.

If you’re in an established church, do you know your congregation’s “framing story” is? What are some of the ways that you think your congregation’s “framing story” guides it today? Are you satisfied with it, or desire a new story to follow?

What story does your congregation live by?

Jeff

Recently we shared lunch with some of the new attenders at our church as a way to get to know them and to introduce them to our church. 

 I thought I would share with you the process we use to empower ministries to begin…

Not a lot of hoops here (no permission necessary!), and no water for the fire… just gasoline. You see, I believe that as a pastor, it is my job to empower people to live out of their gifts and callings… we are all ministers when we say yes to Jesus… I am a pastor, but all who have said yes to Jesus are ministers.

At CoJ, to start a ministry a couple of simple things must take place. First, the ministry can’t violate our vision or core-values (see our webpage for those). Second, you must get a couple of other people who will join you in the venture as a team(I can’t think of a leader in the bible that acted on their own… Moses had Aaron, Paul had many co-horts, Jesus sent the disciples out in twos). Third, be able to raise the necessary funds at least of the first year… then we can talk about if it becomes a core ministry, adding it to the budget (however, doing so, deflates commitment to the ministry somewhat at lease further removes it). Fourth, be willing to evaluate the ministry periodically and adjust or let go of it. And you see, it’s just that easy.

Someone asked, “well, doesn’t that create an opportunity for things to run amuck?” I guess it may, but I like the way Gamialiel puts it in Acts… If God is in it, I can’t stop it, and if God is not in it, it will fail. (my translation of his words in Acts 5:38-39).

Someone wrote me this week asking a curious question. The email read, “Do you believe we are at war with Islamo-fascists?”

The following was my answer:

You and I, (and the Church in general), are not at war with Islam… and I am certain that God is not at war with Muslims. If we have a responsibility with regard to other religions, it’s to ensure that when they encounter us (you and I) they see the real Jesus, not the version that confuses civil religion (patriotism), with following Christ.

Just like all real politics are local, so are the most effective missionaries. Whatever we do, wherever we go, if we do it in service to God, we are emissaries of Christ, and are therein missionaries of his Gospel. And if it is true that all mission is local then, where, how, when and why the American system confuses or confounds that Gospel is definitely our concern. I for one am VERY troubled by the global rise of corporate imperialism.

Having spent nearly twenty years as a counselor, I am capable of using the DSM VI to assess the “personality” of the corporate “person.” By employing that checklist as a diagnostic tool, I believe the operational principles of most corporations result in highly anti-social “persons.” They are: self-interested, inherently amoral, unfeeling and devious; they breach social and legal standards to get their way; they do not suffer from guilt, and yet they can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism.

This point-by-point analysis results in a disturbing diagnosis: the institutional embodiment of imperial capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a ‘psychopath’.

Without a moral compass, and neither corporations nor capitalism are instilled with one, extreme, exclusive profit motives are inescapable. In fact, Capitalism as an economic philosophy is intentionally amoral. And today, Capitalism is a global theology. As such, the postmodern world has a international belief system, that is absent morality, absent the bible, and absent the teachings of Jesus.

What was so seductive about Marx and the theory of communism was the fact that it was as much a moral treatise, as it was an economic theory. No such moral treatise exists for postmodern Capitalism. And if the unchecked, unbridled, savage aspects of corporate imperialism become ever more triumphant, I don’t know how we can hope for a world where democracy, equality and freedom are the norm, not the exception. What we need today is a moral manifesto for capitalism; something that can reign in the ever increasing power of international corporations, something spiritual, something Christlike.

And with regard to capitol, I think the Roman Catholic priesthood got that ‘vow of poverty’ thing wrong. The world would be much better off if we all took vows to generously share our wealth and its creation… as much, and with as many people as possible. And not just in terms of legal tender, but wealth in the forms of equal access to health-care, quality education; fair and safe employment standards, and ecologically sound environmental habits. I believe that these are some of God’s goals for the Mosaic Generations; 21st century expressions of authentic Christian piety. And as such, they require that we practice these things missionally, not isolating ourselves from the world, but rather working for the healing and blessing of God’s beloved creation.

Pietism and piety, are masterpieces of Christian tradition. But even the most genius masterwork needs generational reinterpretation for it to remain historically relevant. I for one am tired of hearing that disavowing homosexuality, supporting lower taxes, and condemning Islam are the touchstone missions of the American church. Instead, we need a new kind of piety, one that combines the Sermon on the Mount, with the issues of the day. If we can accomplish that, the juxtaposition would transform the Church from an arm of the Republican Party, into the voice of God Almighty.