Transformer - not the movie :)
Recently I was thinking about how strange church is - and yet, not all that strange here
If the comparison of church to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror doesn't get me defrocked...heh, I'm probably pretty safe no matter what.
But I bring that up because I'm reading another book, Mark Scandrette's Soul Graffiti. Now, I'm not far enough into it to be able to tell you what a great book it is, or how my perspective has been transformed, or...whatever.
But, on page 25 Mark makes a comment that really caught my attention. Here, I'll quote it:
As I think about it now, there is more than a little irony in the fact that we sat passively in a regal sanctuary listening to messages based on the adventures of a homeless bearded prophet who wandered the cities and countryside caring for the poor and healing the sick and inviting people to follow his example. How exactly were we seeking his kingdom by gathering like this? For me these environments functioned like museums displaying spiritual realities as exotic specimens in a cabinet of curiosities -- removed from life in the here and now. The context conveyed more about the dogmas of tradition and region than the revolutionary life of the master.
Last week, my friend Michael made some good observations about church on the blog we share:
here
Scandrette's observation about the irony of sitting in a palace hearing stories about a homeless guy really struck home with me. Not that Jesus wouldn't go into the synagogues and the Temple, but that wasn't his primary focus. His focus was people - and connecting people with God - healing, teaching, loving, tending, even correcting people. This was the Kingdom of God opening up with promise and hope. Scandrette also quotes Ghandi for saying something like, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." And that's true - but that's true of every ideological/philosophical/theological movement that depends on succeding generations to continue it's exisetence. I didn't hear Jesus' words. I have the reports of people who heard people who heard Jesus' words. It should be no shock to anyone that my theology and understanding of God and people is a few steps removed from Jesus' own.
And yet...
How are "we seeking his kingdom by gathering like this?" We had worship outside again last night. It was a beautiful evening, good music, so-so preaching - great fellowship. But...was it kingdom building?
What connection with the bearded wild prophet priest and king did singing "Give Us Clean Hands" really make? I have to say, one lady in the congregation said that she really connected with God during that song, so maybe that's a bad example. Or maybe it's a good one. There is connection with us gathering in these giant mausoleums for worship. We can connect with the faith of the people of God of a previous generation. We can connect with people around us today who look at such a building and make an immediate assumption: God is worshipped there. There is connection with tradition and history in all it's good and bad ways.
I'm not trying to defend our outdated but beautiful building. I'm just saying, the where is less important than the why and the how...I think (today - tomorrow I might think something different...the bane of blogging...sigh).
I can sit in the local cafe and read about the adventures of this "homeless bearded prophet" and be no more moved to act than sitting on a pew hearing a sermon.
The point is to be moved - to be transformed - to be, as we sang yesterday in worship, more "like Jesus in my heart, in my heart..."
Heh, the ultimate "transformer..."
If the comparison of church to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror doesn't get me defrocked...heh, I'm probably pretty safe no matter what.
But I bring that up because I'm reading another book, Mark Scandrette's Soul Graffiti. Now, I'm not far enough into it to be able to tell you what a great book it is, or how my perspective has been transformed, or...whatever.
But, on page 25 Mark makes a comment that really caught my attention. Here, I'll quote it:
As I think about it now, there is more than a little irony in the fact that we sat passively in a regal sanctuary listening to messages based on the adventures of a homeless bearded prophet who wandered the cities and countryside caring for the poor and healing the sick and inviting people to follow his example. How exactly were we seeking his kingdom by gathering like this? For me these environments functioned like museums displaying spiritual realities as exotic specimens in a cabinet of curiosities -- removed from life in the here and now. The context conveyed more about the dogmas of tradition and region than the revolutionary life of the master.
Last week, my friend Michael made some good observations about church on the blog we share:
here
Scandrette's observation about the irony of sitting in a palace hearing stories about a homeless guy really struck home with me. Not that Jesus wouldn't go into the synagogues and the Temple, but that wasn't his primary focus. His focus was people - and connecting people with God - healing, teaching, loving, tending, even correcting people. This was the Kingdom of God opening up with promise and hope. Scandrette also quotes Ghandi for saying something like, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." And that's true - but that's true of every ideological/philosophical/theological movement that depends on succeding generations to continue it's exisetence. I didn't hear Jesus' words. I have the reports of people who heard people who heard Jesus' words. It should be no shock to anyone that my theology and understanding of God and people is a few steps removed from Jesus' own.
And yet...
How are "we seeking his kingdom by gathering like this?" We had worship outside again last night. It was a beautiful evening, good music, so-so preaching - great fellowship. But...was it kingdom building?
What connection with the bearded wild prophet priest and king did singing "Give Us Clean Hands" really make? I have to say, one lady in the congregation said that she really connected with God during that song, so maybe that's a bad example. Or maybe it's a good one. There is connection with us gathering in these giant mausoleums for worship. We can connect with the faith of the people of God of a previous generation. We can connect with people around us today who look at such a building and make an immediate assumption: God is worshipped there. There is connection with tradition and history in all it's good and bad ways.
I'm not trying to defend our outdated but beautiful building. I'm just saying, the where is less important than the why and the how...I think (today - tomorrow I might think something different...the bane of blogging...sigh).
I can sit in the local cafe and read about the adventures of this "homeless bearded prophet" and be no more moved to act than sitting on a pew hearing a sermon.
The point is to be moved - to be transformed - to be, as we sang yesterday in worship, more "like Jesus in my heart, in my heart..."
Heh, the ultimate "transformer..."
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