lifeasmission

Caught this over on my friend Julia’s blog.  The same friend who had “until the last lock breaks” tattooed on her arm.  A few years ago I was completely unaware of this global injustice, but my present awareness changes virtually everything about how I understand and seek to live out the good news of God’s Kingdom in the world.

I saw this in my friend Laura’s blog.  Though I differ from John Piper on some issues, this video is not one of them.  I think maybe what I like most about John is that he is not wishy-washy.  He’s not afraid to say what is wrong and what he is against.  The prosperity gospel is wrong, I am against it, it is damnable.  Thanks for your voice on this pastor.

My friend Carrie is always up on the coolest stuff. She posted this clip the other day about a documentary, “Maxed Out.” Looks like an important piece.

A wise man once said that “godliness with contentment is great gain.” Sadly, we live in a culture which would rather have us understand contentment as a vice - something for the weak, disinterested, and apathetic. It is not.

If this picture strikes you, please check out this brother’s post.

This blog post is part of a SynchroBlog - below you will see the names of about 50 folks who are all posting today on the question, “What is Missional?” This is an effort launched by Rick Meigs to try and help people get a handle on where others are coming from when they try to answer that question. The hope, at least mine, is that we would be able to save the word “missional,” from the tragic fate of the word “awesome,” which has become so general and overused that it has virtually lost its meaning.

Type the word missional into Google and you’ll come up just shy of 1.5 million results (Rick’s at the top!). Bottom line, missional is an adjective being used by more and more people who are trying to communicate something specific about things like theology and the church (or maybe even furniture arrangements!).

It is imperative to begin by saying this. All things missional emerge from a certain understanding of the gospel and salvation. Missionally speaking, the gospel is not a message (much less a system of belief) to which we need to give intellectual assent to or decide for ourselves what to do with. Rather, it is the ongoing work of God in the world, the new reality inaugurated in Jesus, which addresses, by way of redemption, the whole of creation. It has everything to do with the Kingdom of God and spiritual formation (discipleship). This is a gospel which can never be known in abstraction but only by way of participation. Likewise, it is the good news that God invites us into his saving work - not as something we have (a characteristically American commodification), but as something we participate in.

With that being said, and without going into a lot of related and important issues such as history, authors, culture and context, etc. (though you may check out the links here and below and also check out my “missional” tag on this blog for more), here’s my best attempt to articulate what I have in mind when I talk about missional theology and missional church in particular.

Missional, when it is used to describe theology, indicates an understanding of all that relates to God through the lens (or hermeneutic) of the missio Dei, the mission of God in and to the world. Thus, as suggested in my masters thesis, “Restoring Hope to the Church in Western Culture,”missional theology innately has a more narrative, as opposed to systematic or simply biblical, bent to it. That is to say, missional theology refuses to capitulate to the dominant Platonic or dualistic way of thinking which would contend that we can know things about God apart from a discerning participation in a life of faith (aka life as mission!).

As Miroslav Volf has said,

At the heart of every good theology lies not simply a plausible intellectual vision but more importantly a compelling account of a way of life, and that theology is therefore best done from within the pursuit of this way of life.

In like fashion, missional, when it is used to describe the church, seeks to circumvent another modern dichotomy, that of orthodoxy (believing the right things - classic fundamentalim) and orthopraxis (living the right way - classic liberalism). I suppose we could call this third way, believing the right way (a notion our Anabaptist and Orthodox brothers and sisters could teach us much about). The sentiment here is that the church is called to be a certain kind of people and that this being entails a certain way of living and engagement with the world. Our being a certain kind of people means that we live a certain way and equally important, our living a certain way forms us into being a certain kind of people. One does not follow the other. Missional churches embrace the reality that it is in this fundamental relationship of being and living that God is most truly and fully known and made known.

The implications of all this are deep and far-reaching, not only for churches, but for centers of theological education as well. Being missional is no mere enhanced focus on reaching people, being relevant, or even focusing outside the “four walls of the church.” It is not the newest or coolest church model. It is probably not an overstatement to say that to embrace a missional identity is akin to a Copernican Revolution - little wonder then that so many who really get what missional is all about are labeled heretics.

As a final note, I might add that missional theology and missional churches are better received in postmodern/post-Christian contexts. That is because these are places in which a co-opted and sentimentalized version of Christianity have lost their place at the center of a culture. Thus, missional, as a more unadulterated version of theology and church (it is postmodern in the sense that much of postmodernity is a recovery of that which was lost or confused within modernity - and therefore perhaps better described as pre-modern), is quite fresh and compelling. In more modern/Christendom contexts (cough… Memphis… cough…), not so much. There, this way of understanding theology and the church, instead, serves to deconstruct the dominant notions of both - as well it should.

Now, go read what these folks have to say…

Alan Hirsch
Alan Knox
Andrew Jones
Barb Peters
Bill Kinnon
Brad Brisco
Brad Grinnen
Brad Sargent
Brother Maynard
Bryan Riley
Chad Brooks
Chris Wignall
Cobus Van Wyngaard
Dave DeVries
David Best
David Fitch
David Wierzbicki
DoSi
Doug Jones
Duncan McFadzean
Erika Haub
Grace
Jamie Arpin-Ricci
Jeff McQuilkin
John Smulo
Jonathan Brink
JR Rozko
Kathy Escobar
Len Hjalmarson
Makeesha Fisher
Malcolm Lanham
Mark Berry
Mark Petersen
Mark Priddy
Michael Crane
Michael Stewart
Nick Loyd
Patrick Oden
Peggy Brown
Phil Wyman
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner

A few weeks ago I came across a quote by John Howard Yoder…

The people who bear crosses are working with the grain of the universe.

Instantly I had all sorts of thought flow through my mind. But, instead of posting myself, I though about asking a couple friends, a guy and a gal to jot down their thoughts on the quote. They had really no background or context, I was just looking for them to react to the sentiment of the quote. Zach (not blogging…yet) and Emily are 2 amazing folks that I have had he chance to get to know here in Memphis and I loved what they had to say. I (and I assume they) are anxious for your reactions.

I’ve been pondering this John Howard Yoder quote for the past few days. The first time I read it I couldn’t figure out what the heck it meant… but as I thought about it, it started to come alive and make a little sense. Here are a few of the things that come-up for me upon reflection of this truth.

Jesus said in Matthew 10 that “anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Cross-bearing is crucial to discipleship. Bearing a cross in the 1st century world was a tragic and excruciating experience… one that ultimately required your life. Similarly, Jesus asks us for the total commitment of our lives to Him. He wasn’t just asking for our affection or time, but everything we have to give. Cross-bearing involves sacrifice as the process of following Him in submission and giving Him our everything will necessarily bring heartache and pain. We are told to expect the pain, that this road we walk is not smoothly paved to heaven. The giving of our lives to Jesus will bring us confusion and failure… opportunities to be drawn closer to Christ Himself.

I wonder if what Yoder was getting at was something along the lines of the idea that the Cross of Christ instituted a new reality, a revolutionary dynamic, a new normal in our universe. That in the same way the life and death of Jesus could be described as sacrificial, emptying, and forgiving, those qualities were infused into our universal reality as the way God intended for the life of His people to be lived. That all justice and truth in the Kingdom of God would retain these elements, and therefore turn what is “natural” for us upside-down. Maybe this is what Jesus was referring to when He said “the first will be last, and the last will be first.” Those who are first in the Kingdom of God will likely walk a road of sacrifice and self-emptying, similar to their master. And that this is the way it is meant to be in our world, God purposefully using the weak to shame the strong.

If this is true, then what kind of implications does that have for our daily spiritual formation? When future heartache comes my way, how will I embrace it? Walking a road of sacrifice feels very unnatural, like something is definitely not how it should be and needs to be fixed, thus our initial prayer of “Why me?!” How might our hearts be transformed if we understand our pain as a part of what IS a natural process of God’s kingdom on earth? Perhaps we would embrace the internal darkness and emptiness that sometimes is a part of our own spiritual journeys as an inherent piece of what God is creating in us. Instead of thinking that something must be wrong with us or God is not near, we could take comfort in the knowledge that our personal journey will go through periods of dryness and times when God does not seem near… but that itself goes with the grain of the universe in asking us to submit and sacrifice the experience of our souls for greater unity with Christ.

If this is true, maybe we would embrace opportunities to share in the suffering of others, knowing that we are sharing in the sufferings of Christ and walking the same road He did. We would see that those who are struggling with great pain and personal sacrifice are mirroring a reality of the Kingdom of God. If their lives are following a natural course of the universe, perhaps we should seek to enter their reality and where Jesus is meeting them in it.
Beyond personal pain, how might this concept affect our view of the world? American Christians tend to be activists. We hire lawyers and go after those who would deny us religious freedom. We expect our rightful place to be in the top leadership of the country, making and affecting laws for our psuedo-Christian nation. We think it’s our job to bring the Kingdom of God to earth through legislation and lawsuits…not suffering and self-emptying. It seems easier somehow to accept a theology of personal suffering, but the idea that the Church as a whole might be persecuted and oppressed… well, we don’t accept that in America. Freedom is a gift, but what if the demanding assertion of that freedom has less to do with having a triumphant witness to the word, and more to do with a refusal to follow in the footsteps of a Christ who did not demand his rights but gave his life as a sacrifice?

“The people who bear crosses are working with the grain of the universe.” Are we these kind of people? The Cross of Christ has instituted a new reality in which the Church on earth will not necessarily be marked by success and power, but tragedy and persecution. If we are to look like Jesus, we must mirror His sacrifice and self-emptying and expect that God will give us opportunities to bear a cross, to give our lives, in following Him. We must see that Christian “success” is more about uniting with Christ through the sharing of his sufferings than touting our latest victory or building project. If we embraced this idea as the normal path of God’s creation, how much more closely might we resemble our Master?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

In Yoders quote, “people who bear crosses are working with the grain of the universe” Yoder is offering both a commentary on the state of the fallen universe and the inevitability of suffering that will happen within it.

As sin entered the world with the fall of man, the perfectly harmonious relationship with God was broken and man was left to live with physical separation from God and the repercussion that accompany this distance. There would now be physical pain, hardship and death. Thus the grain of a perfect universe is reversed to become one of physical suffering and death.

In addition, Yoder offers us a statement about our own comforts. If Yoder is correct in his assertion that the universe is essentially an environment where suffering is normative, then the idea that comfort goes against the grain of the universe must also be true. This becomes evident as we see multitudes finding no consolation in the pursuit of comfort. This truth becomes self evident as we see people try to anesthetize themselves to the pain and hardship of a sin nature. We see countless examples the vain pursuit of comfort result in feelings of purposelessness and spiritual disorientation or apathy. We see professed Christians in crisis of faith because God is seen clearer through blessings than through suffering. The idea that God wants you to be rich, have two cars, a house, 2.5 children and live happily ever after may be true, but it is not the greatest truth. The greatest truth is that God wants what God wants regardless of our ability to find comfort in that.

If this were the end of the story it would paint a pretty bleak picture of human existence. However, God’s relationship with man, however fractured, is a Christian’s source of comfort. Because of this fact, comfort and pain are not mutually exclusive and quite likely coexist in our lives. Comfort does not indicate the absence of suffering only the assurance that we will be fully restored someday. Yoder’s statement is true; humanity was purposed for glorification of God and not the glorification of self.

One of my favorite authors (and shark diving buddies), NT Wright and one of my favorite TV personalities (Stephen Colbert) are coming together tomorrow night for a 1/2 hour of awesomeness on the Colbert Report. You MUST check this out. Here’s a little teaser.

I was in California this past weekend.  I was most excited to see my family and friends as well as to remind myself of just how awesome LA is.  However, I was also set to appear in court to handle an outstanding matter.

I first left Pasadena in the summer of 2006.  I left a car in the hands of my house church and asked them to find someone down on their luck who could use it.  They did, and I was thrilled.  Until about a year later when it came to my attention that I was receiving parking tickets on the donated car.  I spoke with the person who assured me that they would rectify the situation immediately.  This past February I flew out to California and was mortified to find out that the recipient of this car had not in fact rectified the situation and had amassed nearly $5,000 worth of parking tickets in my name.  Again, I spoke with this individual - this time in person - and again they promised me that they would do what was necessary to make things right.  A few months went by - still nothing.  So, I was forced to file a small claims court case, which was scheduled for yesterday in Pasadena.

As I guessed, although this person was served with court papers, they did not show up for the court date.  I explained the situation to the judge and he found in my favor.  Translation, “Yes, she owes you the money for the tickets.  Have fun collecting!”

I have not paid for these tickets yet and I am going to try a few other avenues, but the matter remains largely unresolved.

This is not unlike when I came home to Ohio to discover that renters had done $15,000 worth of damage to my home.  There was a judgment in my favor there as well, but I haven’t (and don’t presume I ever will) see a cent.

In all honesty, I am not complaining, just sharing.  I am not really sure exactly what to feel.  It would be easy to play the victim, I mean in reality I suppose I am, but I’d rather not settle for that.  I am trying my best to push through the frustration and financial hardship and ask myself, “What evil must have been done to a person to bring them to a point where they act like this?”  Certainly we all bear responsibility for our actions, but I do not count myself among those who feel people simply act evil impulsively.  I think we act out evil because some sort of evil has been done to us.

So, while not merely excusing the actions of these folks, I am really trying to sympathize with their situation and ask for justice - not just for me, but for them.

Oh yeah, I had my car in the shop while I was away to the tune of $500 in repairs for stuff and then I wrecked it this afternoon when I decided to drive through a ditch and into a fence rather than up the rear end of the lady who slammed on her brakes at the last minute to make a left turn she didn’t signal for.  Evil abounds!  (Yes, I’m fine)

** I almost hesitate to use the word “evil” to describe this sort of stuff - there are far worse travesties and situations in the world that are far more deserving of the title, but hopefully you get my drift.

And this, my friends, is why I get really, really scared about the American media…

Thanks Nick for pointing it out.