wanna see something really scary?

Q: what was (or is) the scariest thing about church?

L.G. To quote DCTalk from the 1990's. "The Number one cause of athiesm in the world today is Christians who profess Jesus with their mouth and go out and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world, simply finds, unbelievable" I think the scariest thing about church as a Christian (Christ-like) is that we think we have to be perfect ...

May 18 at 10:01am ·

L.M. Judgement and when you need a place to let your guard down, need to just be yourself, your unable to in fear that you'll be turned away and alone

May 18 at 10:32am ·

D.S. The first time you enter a new church and you feel like you might not be accepted. The other thing is talking to your friends about yor church exsperience and them not understanding or not wanting to know.

May 18 at 10:59am ·

T.H. I would have to say fear of rejection is one, the other is fear of not being accepted, as weird as this sounds the two can be very different. Many people are at the fringe of church where they show up and a re accepted but still don't feel they can get deeper involved.

May 18 at 12:22pm ·

A.L. was: feeling alone and disconnected in a room full of people
is: seeing the world impact the church, instead of the other way 'round...

May 18 at 12:24pm ·

R.F. Being the only person who doesn't know anyone in a large click. This is made worse by an over friendly welcome crew. I don't imagine it's the same walking in a mega Church

May 18 at 9:29pm ·

JB no, mega churches are probably comprised of many large clicks ;)

May 23 at 6:15am ·

(sadly, i had to remove the names and pictures of our 'panel' because these were all hyperlinks back to their facebook accounts... not really as interesting anymore. sorry, but people's privacy is kinda important, even though Jesus DID say that "there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs." Luke 12.2-3)

so i posed this little question on facebook, thinking i would get lots of stories about strange spiritual experiences in churches... chance encounters with the spiritual gifts like tongues, prophecy and healing that left people confused and a little edgy every time they came upon acts 2 in their devotions and whatnot.

my plan was to share a couple of my own experiences: one that weirded me out and one that inspired me to explore my own giftings more deeply. however, i never got there. apparently, the folks responding to the simple prompt went a very different direction with it... and did so together.

the common denominator in this little thread, and two others like it that i began in different places, was the fear of non-acceptance due to lack of grace. this is troubling, considering the majority of the folks responding were regular 'church folks.'

how did the church get this reputation, even among its own people? Jesus certainly didn’t have this in mind when he described the future of his movement in john 14.16-27.

fair enough... but you wanna see something really scary?

the church that emerged from that amazing day when the Holy Spirit touched people in the way that Jesus had promised was hardly a religious institution prompting fear and anxiety among those who came looking for truth and hope. sure, the day of Pentecost was absolute mayhem- but it was God’s mayhem, accomplishing major life-change and freedom for thousands the very first day and birthing the new covenant church in the process, entrusting its leadership to uneducated sellouts for Christ. it was a grassroots movement of regular people just trying to sort it out as they went along, but doing so within the safety of intentional faith and fellowship communities that were as committed to the meeting of others' needs as to the progress of their own personal spiritual pilgrimages.

the really scary thing is that somehow this beautiful movement eventually turned into a religion. the encouraging thing is that it's not too late to change it back.

find us on facebook, follow us on twitter

i think i want to be like president obama...

not in the power or the celebrity. in the way that he, in his campaign for the presidency, engaged in a collaborative effort, inviting not only support, but active involvement from varying demographics in the movement he was leading. this approach resulted in the mobilization of, among others, an entire generation of young Americans who seemed to be just waiting for someone to invite them into a dialogue about how their country should be run and their resources should be channelled in order to participate in the realization of a better world...

I got my chance on the South Side of Chicago, as a community organizer, and it was the transformative experience of my career. It allowed me to put my values to work and to see that real change comes not from the top-down but from the bottom up, when ordinary people come together around a common purpose...

(barak obama 2003)

Jesus said that the time would come when it would be possible to network effortlessly, but when it would also become increasingly difficult to be an ordinary, private citizen, keeping anything secret because information would flow so easily. it appears as though we are in a time like that. there is always someone with a cell phone taking pictures that show up in albums on facebook or movies that appear to the masses on youtube.

it's enough to make you paranoid.

except we need to remember that nothing in God's creation is inherently evil. all is originally authored by God so all is inherently good. the uses of things are what determines their current righteousness or fallenness.

take rock music, for example. in the past, it has been mistakenly seen as inherently evil simply because of the misuse of its emotive power and energy by some. generally categorized by generations having gone ahead of us as anything incorporating electric guitars or a drum kit, this fledgling genre was attacked in the 60's and 70's by fundamentalist christians as being 'devil music ' and therefore responsible for the everything wrong with the world of the day. this was made worse by the fact that it seemed to be drawing their apple-pie-faced young people out of the hard pews of the churches and into dark concert halls where their innocence would be assailed by demons having leapt out of many a drum kit and into their youthful hips causing them to gyrate in time with the sinful beat.

i mean, yeah. there were and are many things going on at shows that are not healthy at all and never have been, but it's not the presence of drums or electric guitars that causes these things to happen, it's people using something created by God to aid their rebellion. this has been happening since the garden, not just since elvis presley sang and danced on tv in 1957, filmed from the waist up.

the fact that rock music is used regularly to lead people into an awareness of the presence of God at worship events worldwide should offer some support for this little tangent...

so even though there is a lot of garbage on the internet, it isn't inherently bad. we should take advantage of the innovations at our disposal in order to make the good news of Christ known, redeeming this space, this technology.

"The goal is to have a conversation in which people become engaged in life, think about issues, get active in improving their communities and mobilize society for positive change. Politicians and citizens alike would become more informed and learn from each other..." (Dan Tapscott, author of Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything.)

so many of the things that we address together are more meaningfully explored when we are in dialogue. in addition to the online address of this blog, there is a weekly invitation to 'find us on Facebook (Northview Community Church) and follow us on Twitter (NCCtweets)' within the church program. each of these social media is a means by which we might continue the conversations that begin when we come together on sundays.

furthermore, we're thinking it would be fun to get the conversations started before we even arrive at the building. we have begun a regular discussion on northview's Facebook page called 'Field Research.' this will be a way to gather thoughts and insights from our people in preparation for our gatherings on sundays. we all grow from knowing one another and hearing from each other.

there is also some fairly intense work going into a new WEB2.0 website, targeted for launch late this spring. it will also be a means by which we engage in ongoing interaction.

see, this site is not to be viewed as a large online book with information about our church in it. who would go there? although it will have a lot of information regarding where we've been, what we're doing now and where we're going, a more accurate way to see its role in Northview's future is to see it as a wing that is being built onto the church- except instead of being a physical one, this is a virtual one. many of the same things can happen there that happen in a church building: fellowship, discipling, dialogue, laughter, ongoing interaction... except in this case, none of these things are limited by time or space.

online interaction can never be a substitute for face-to-face engagement with one another, but in those times when the face to face time and space are limited because of the busy lives we lead and the breathing room available in the lobby, the conversations can continue in this forum.

roger waters quipped in 1990, while staging an all-star presentation of The Wall, his landmark work with pink floyd, that "What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?”

recently, in planning to rebuild The Wall for audiences this fall, he posted a reflection upon this old soundbyte:

I believe this is still a supremely relevant question and the jury is out. There is a lot of commercial clutter on the net, and a lot of propaganda, but I have a sense that just beneath the surface understanding is gaining ground. We just have to keep blogging, keep twittering, keep communicating, keep sharing ideas.

indeed...

i read this and thought this3

"Sometime after Apollo 11, I happened to catch Neil Armstrong on TV doing a Chrysler commercial in civvies. Well!! Homo sapiens, peak of evolution, American icon, star of the cosmic drama, in the toils of Madison Avenue!" (herman wouk)

sell out...

it's how we establish and maintain our progress

it's what we do best...

that and kill one another.

interesting, that the teachings of emmanuel levinas speak fairly specifically of murder... in particular, that to rob another of autonomy is to effectively kill that other.

so it seems that in both of the things we do best, someone has to die.

killing another begins foundationally with robbing the other of the autonomy that is rightfully theirs, and selling out is to rob oneself of the same autonomy. even Jesus speaks of this in the scriptures when he implores me to deny myself, take up my cross daily and follow him. to surrender to lordship of another is to willfully give up my autonomy and die to self.

where this all breaks for me personally is that i don't feel like i've sold out on anything. i've accepted my role in the murder of Jesus (one life one time for all for all time ) and have sought to follow him... even when that following demands more of me than i can fathom, much less articulate.

click on believe and follow the instructions

The doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy religion- whosoever believeth in it shall not perish but have everlasting life in which to try to understand it. (Ambrose Pierce)

Q: What must I do to be saved?

indeed, what? as canadians, we can stumble over the answer to this question simply for fear of telling someone else how to live their life. however, when we, for all our stumbling, realize that our own answer is decidedly more cluttered by religion than Jesus’ answer was, or than Peter’s or Paul’s answers were, it is then that we are able to throw off our cultural baggage and move forward in both our understanding and our sharing of God’s grace.

we run hard in our quest for redemption.

look around: people do amazing things for their community in search of their place in this world. coaching teams, performing in community theatre, organizing hip hop groups in the inner city, serving at camps for the disabled, teaching children bible stories at church- we want to be part of a work that makes the world a better place and establishes a legacy that will somehow live on after we’ve gone. we want to leave a good mark and our quest for purpose, for redemption, drives us.

but sometimes we get things backwards. mistakenly engaging in these community-building activities with the hope of somehow attaining salvation through our involvements. these involvements should be the expression of salvation, not a means of somehow accomplishing it.

but when asked the big redemption question, paul answers with a hyperlink: 'click on BELIEVE and follow the instructions.'

receive hope and then live it out in obedience.

that's the redemption deal.

but remember:

the ‘living it out’ is not where the religion comes in-

it’s where the light shines out

going home?

Tuesday's lectionary reading this week takes us here

²²"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

(Acts 20.22-24)

you ever get gripped with nostalgia upon returning to your hometown, or the place where you went to university, or a place in which you used to work? it can get pretty trippy, depending on the emotional colour of the memories that continue to reside there in your mind.

returning to jerusalem is a fairly intense homecoming for paul. probably not since arriving in damascas blind has paul felt such trepidation about going somewhere. jerusalem is where paul, once called 'saul of tarsus' in what probably feels like a whole nother life to him, was stationed during the period of his life when he was busy holding the coats of the murderous, stone-throwing mob and 'breathing murderous threats' against the followers of Christ.

so returning to jerusalem represents a closure, of sorts, for paul- the finishing of a marathon; the completion of a task. it is as if all that began on that damascas road is reaching its inevitable conclusion for him personally. it even seems that the guy is a bit worried about being murdered himself- and yet he presses on because, as we read in his writing, the Spirit compels him.

and when the Spirit compels me, am i faithful? i mean, when i KNOW it's God talking, am i ready, willing and able to move?

what if it means 'going back' even though i've 'moved on?'

very few faith opportunities in this western life represent any real threat to my actual life, so why do i find faithfulness itself so challenging?

perhaps i'm still thinking this life is mine.

i read this and thought this2

www.twittermosaic.com

Want to meet God? Look into the face of the next person you meet. (Leonard Sweet)

in spending time with God’s word

i will discover the very face of God,

increasingly visible,

increasingly involved

increasingly engaged...

largely because i am.

(psalm 119.5-9 , john 17.17 )

loaded questions and God's redemption jokes

so Jesus challenges his followers with a loaded question.

'what good will it be for a man to gain the world and forfeit his soul?' (matthew 16.26)

he challenges them to think bigger than

he challenges them to dream bolder than

he challenges them to love deeper than

anything they can possibly pull off on their own steam.

unfortunately, he has to die and resurrect himself before anybody actually gets it. he's not joking... or maybe he is. perhaps it's just that these humble followers have such an earthly perspective that a punchline with a heavenly accent fails to register. humour is so cultural- so subjective.

(some further thoughts on God's sense of humour and how we fail to recognize his best jokes can be found here )

whatever the case, years later, paul choses, instead, to lose his life for Christ’s sake (Matthew 10.39) and in so doing, find the realization of God’s purposes for the time he has left.

having been a both a roman citizen AND a jewish pharisee, ‘breathing murderous threats’ against the followers of Christ; having been actively involved in the persecution that ultimately drove Christianity out of its Neonatal ICU of Jerusalem and into the rest of the world (unwittingly spreading the Gospel far beyond the borders of anything that is manageable for temple authorities to suppress... another one of God's jokes) paul meets God face to face on the killing road and lets it all go.

so when, on his second missionary journey, he receives a vision from God, he acts upon it immediately, (acts 16.9-13) to Macedonia. because of its proximity to the sea as well as to one of the major roads to europe, philippi is a commercial centre of macedonia.

once in philippi, paul leads his group down to the river, for this is where praying takes place in towns that have too few Jewish households to erect a synagogue... makes sense: in many places in scripture, but most pointedly in accounts of israel's exodus and ultimate arrival in the promised land and in writings of the prophet ezekiel, the river is a rich symbol of the Holy Spirit as well as God’s cleansing, anointing and life-giving resource and hope.

paul, arriving in town, seeking to plant a church there, waits until the Sabbath and then seeks out the praying people where he knows they will be. his hans landa-type detective skills also serve him well as a church planter.

and God laughs

(NOTE: the comparisons between the apostle paul and fictional nazi colonel, hans landa are really quite strong: The Jew Hunter)

to gain the whole wide world

but what does it mean to gain the whole wide world?

when Jesus uses this phrase (matthew 16.26), he is talking about trying to figure out the plans of God. he challenges those who are following him around to truly follow- to let go of all that might get in the way of being part of God’s larger plan. he reminds us that, while up to our eyeballs in life on earth, our perspective is limited by it and so we are well advised to be eager listeners and learners, living and loving rather than presuming...

God alone knows all the facts, sets all the goals, and determines morality. Nowhere in Scripture are his principles to be replaced in favour of human calculation. He allows us to play the game; he does not allow us to make the rules. (Erwin W Lutzer)

(for some further thoughts on perspective, its limitations and the problem of objectivity, go here )

the enemy line

canadians are known worldwide as a fairly easy-going, self-effacing people. just watch how canadians are charicatured in films and television shows. we dodge the big deal. we avoid banquets held in our honour. we make funny remarks to counter someone else’s thanks... (for some more canadiana, go here)

our self-consciousness is cultural.

and we’re not alone in that.

look within the story of the early church and you will find glaring examples of cultural attitudes that divide the people Jesus had been dying to unite. (Acts 11.1-18)

peter receives this vision from God where real people are relegated to deplorable eats. it's not that God has reduced people to this. God speaks to peter in pictures that peter recognizes and peter's cultural perspective on non-jewish persons recognizes the symbolism of the gross animals. God intends for that to change. the future of the church is at stake, so God paints peter a dream picture and then interprets it for him. after some initial push back, peter gets it and sets out to do what God is calling him to, even though it is culturally uncomfortable for him.

but there is another perspective here: that of the unsavoury animals.

the non-jewish people ('gentiles') would also recognize the symbolism in peter's vision, for they've been treated as such for millennia. even during the times of exile when the rulers of the land have been non-jewish, there has been a sense of spiritual and cultural arrogance expressed in the behaviours and practices of the jewish people. there has been a line drawn that has created an animosity on either side of the line towards the other. this is why God gives a complementary vision of an angel to cornelius, the non-jewish guy to whose house peter is being sent .

because the attitudes on both sides of a line of segregation

are informed by the line itself.

so does this sound like the line between born-agains and non-believers?

see, as long as the people who don't subscribe to the evangelical christian worldview feel marginalized and looked down upon (with gentile-type labels like nonbeliever, heathen, sinner, joe six-pack, unchurched harry etc) there will still be reticence regarding the overtures of love offered to them. when people don't feel beautiful or loved, it's hard to receive love messages without doubting their sincerity...

***

When the church fails to break the cultural barrier, both sides lose. Those who need the gospel message of hope and the reality of love, don’t get it, and the isolated church keeps evangelizing the same people over and over until its only mission finally is to entertain itself... When the church transcends culture, it can transform culture.
(Charles Colson)

new stuff

And he that sat upon the throne said,

Behold, I make all things new.

(Revelation 21.5)

what does the word 'new' mean when Jesus says it?

i mean, at first glance, Jesus seems to be very much about redefining things in new terms. however, perhaps he isn’t redefining so much as redeeming the original value and intended meaning of things. taking familar passages of scripture from moses and the prophets and delivering them with such spin that the scriptures themselves ae revitalized and the standard for behaviour is raised beyond the parameters of traditional expectation, Jesus’ work on earth is to purposefully exalt this human experience of living... to resurrect it.

and so, within the teaching part of his ministry, he often takes direct questions from the gallery on the simplest of truths, and uses them to radically rework his listeners’ paradigms and deepen their understanding of that which they think they already know...

• matthew 22.35-40 "greatest commandment"
• luke 6.27-31 "golden rule"

note how, in both of these instances, Jesus reminds the people that their own perspective is valuable. “as yourself” and “to you”... it's not enough to debate- to speak in logic and abstracts. he doesn't simply invite his listeners to think right. these words of truth only matter when placed in the context of human experience and lived out there.

there is the real challenge, however.

see, Jesus seems to hold that we already know ourselves implicitly and treat ourselves well... but what if we don’t know these things? failing to love ourselves appropriately, failing to take care of ourselves conscientiously, do Jesus’ words here have any meaning to us at all?