Learning to Dance

Last weekend I went line dancing with my roommate and some of her friends. I learned some line dances when I was in 6th grade, or something like that, but since then haven’t really done any line dancing. The extent of my knowledge of this particular type of dance was the grapevine. I thought it sounded fun (I figured at worst I would be able to enjoy the music). I am not a natural dancer, so the entire night I had to really concentrate on what other people who knew what they were doing were doing. I messed up a lot, and I imagine I looked really funny attempting to “dance” with no real idea what I was doing. But it was fun. I was thinking about how we can make people feel more welcome at church, and this experience immediately came to mind. I don’t think church is really that much different than learning to dance.

When a new person walks into church they most likely have some sort of idea or experience with religion that they are bringing with them. However, this experience or idea may or may not actually help them as they enter. They probably are looking around the room, trying to find someone who knows what they are doing to follow. I imagine they fell awkward as they try to “fit in” with the people there. Trying to pretend like passing a bowl for money or raising your arms in worship or greeting every person around you is something they do every week. The more they participate, the more comfortable they get with things.

The connection I am seeing is this realization that I would never have gone out and danced if someone had announced- “hey look, a new person, everyone watch as she messes up”- or on a less tacky note- “we would like to welcome the girl in the brown whose with us for the first time”. Yes, I think it would have made me feel good to know someone was acknowledging my presence, but there is no way I would have danced. The only reason I did was because I knew people weren’t going to make fun of me for looking like an idiot. (Granted, I know some people stood on the sides and laughed, but that’s not the same…) I also appreciated the couple of times when someone took the time to explain an especially confusing step, or give me a heads up about what was coming next. I think church needs to be more like this. When new people come, we shouldn’t draw attention to their newness, we should welcome them and help them learn the reason for what we are doing. We should let them do their thing, and if it’s funny looking or different than what we do, that’s okay. We can’t laugh or give them weird looks. We can’t expect a new person to church to have it all figured out. And I don’t mean just the actions done in church, I mean all of it. If they swear, don’t make a big deal of it, if they are living with a girl who they are not married to, just take it in stride, like a missed step on the dance floor. You know it needs to get better sometime, but for now, just the fact they are trying is enough.

If anyone had said that I needed to be perfect, or even good, the first time I tried a line dance, I would still be sitting on the sidelines observing, thinking it looks like fun, but not willing to go out there. If I were a new church goer and people expected me to act like a mature Christian right away I would run the other way fast, even if I really wanted to be a part of the church, I wouldn’t feel good enough to be.

ARGH

Q: “The Bible says that God is male. What about feminist theology, which says that God is at least partly female?”

A: “Feminist theology claims God is either both male and female or even strictly female. However, without bogging down on this point, feminist theologians also practice the following principles for building their beliefs:

-There is no such thing as special revelation. In other words, the Bible isn’t the Word of God.

-Therefore, religion is built out of the experience of men and women, not God’s Word.

- Since God doesn’t speak in His Word, people have the freedom to define reality, self and God. People get to decide who  God is.    Behind all the fancy arguments, feminists declare God is female only because they want to believe it, not because it’s true.

-According to feminism, the goal of Christianity is not to give out the forgiveness of sins, but to free women from oppression.”

(From You Ask About…Life by Tim Pauls)

I was really excited about this book because it had a lot of great questions and then I started actually reading the answers and this one totally ticked me off. In fact, I might get rid of the book now, we’ll have to see what other answers they give. It’s not that what they are saying about feminists is wrong, it’s that they are answering a question about a Christian issue with a non-Christian feminist perspective. What about all the Christian feminists who do believe in special revelation and do believe that Christianity is based on God’s word, and do believe it’s all about forgiveness of sins? I hate people who avoid answering a difficult question by skirting the issue, which is exactly what this author does. God is neither male nor female. God is God- we cannot give God any sexual identity. Both man and woman are made in God’s image. God often is described in the Bible using both masculine and feminine metaphors. So much is lost in translation, but many of the images used to describe God in Hebrew are feminine words- English doesn’t have this same differentiation that Hebrew and other languages use. When we look at the creation story in Hebrew the words used clearly show a God that is both male and female- and that the splitting of this unity in mankind came from God’s wholeness as both. Now, I wouldn’t like whatever the answer this guy gives to the question in his book, I’m sure of that. But I would accept it if he had actually offered an answer to the question instead of an ignorant response that misrepresents Christian feminists. Then again, maybe he doesn’t actually have a response since the question is in itself flawed- where does the Bible tell us God is male and only male?

“Read (this) with Discernment”

I just read that a Christian book store is starting to add notices that say “Read with Discernment” to certain books they sell. These are still Christian books, but they are not your not your standard Beth Moore or Max Lucado or John Piper. The books are by authors like Donald Miller and Rob Bell and Brian McLaren (and I’m sure Anne Lamott if they sell her). I am bothered by this for two reasons:

1. I have to wonder why these particular people are black-listed or whatever you would call it. I mean, when I read Miller I see him challenging me to think critically about what he’s saying. Same with Bell and McLaren and others- I never feel like these authors are trying to tell me what I should be thinking about these subjects, they are sharing their experiences and insights, but often they challenge me to look somewhere else before jumping on board (at least this is my reaction).  In contrast, Beth Moore has specific verses and specific answers to questions and you can either be wrong (disagree) or be right (agree). So while I totally agree that we need to read critically what the authors they are putting a warning on I think those books are more ingrained to make you think that way while other books maybe need a label warning you to think critically because if you don’t you’re going to be creating a clone of Beth Moore (or something like that).

2. I worry that by labeling books as requiring you to “Read with Discernment” people are automatically going to be turned off by them and not give them a chance. These books are typically excellent books that really ask us to think critically about Christianity in America and I it’s sad to think that people are going to ignore them because a bookstore has labeled them in such a way that you think they are going to be filled with heresy when really it’s just about challenging what has been accepted for too long.

That said, this Sunday I plan to start using “Blue Like Jazz”  for Sunday school- my approach to this study has always been to read (or in our case, listen) with discernment. We are going to evaluate how it lines up with the reformed view and other such things as we go. I just worry that if too many people in leadership hear about this read with discernment thing they might make us switch our “curriculum” (we had been using Nooma videos by Rob Bell for a while).

The Floor Won

I fell out of bed last night. I didn’t actually “fall out of bed” in the sense you probably are thinking. My pillow fell off my bed and in my sleepiness I attempted to reach out and grab it but instead fell over it. My entire left arm is rug burned and bruised, and part of my side as well. It is slightly ironic that while looking for a devotional to use at a meeting tonight I stumbled across a Max Lucado story about not staying too close to where you got in (to bed) or you will fall out. I feel a need to go on record and let everyone know that I often have had to reclaim a fallen pillow in the middle of the night and this is the first time I have fallen out of bed attempting to do this.

Shepherds

When I was 3 I attended my first Sunday School class. I don’t remember it, but in my mind I have created a pretty good idea of what this class was like. As we arrived we were given pictures to color- these pictures were of whatever our Bible story was about. Then we would go out into the big room and sit in the front row with the “big” kids and sing songs like “Jesus Loves Me” and “Deep and Wide”. After singing an old lady with blue hair would set up her flannel board and tell us a wonderful story with paper people and animals and buildings. And then we would go back and finish our coloring. Or something. I don’t know how much of this is actually a good image- but I do know the flannel board and paper figures are very real- to this day in my old church they have flannel board stories on Christmas and Easter-just so the old lady with blue hair can keep doing what she does.

I think the flannel boards are wonderful- they are a great way to visually tell a story. However, my idea of a shepherd comes from these sweet looking paper people. A shepherd is typically hairy but very nice looking- he has decent clothes and a big staff with a hook at the end and a bunch of fluffy sheep all around him. He stands there and watches the fluffy sheep and once in a while he’ll have to go get one that wanders off. As you may know, this isn’t really too true of shepherds.

When I lived out in the middle of nowhere Iowa I would have to drive past a couple sheep farms to get to “civilization”. They smelled so bad- worse than pigs, worse than turkeys even! Sheep are filthy animals- and they are among the dumbest creatures alive I think (at least this is what preacher and preacher has told me). Shepherds are probably pretty filthy themselves because they are getting in the middle of this group of sheep trying to keep them on the right track- which is not an easy task. They probably have to tackle a sheep every now and then, and if nothing else, they have to rescue these dirty, smelly creatures when they get stuck in a fence or a hole. They aren’t nice looking people- they are fierce. Caring for and defending their sheep requires this. They have to be willing to fight off a wolf or a bear using whatever means necessary. I think I would be terrified of crossing a shepherd- and I would probably run away from his filth.

One of the most dominating images of God and Jesus is of a loving shepherd. But a loving shepherd isn’t a nice looking guy with clean clothes and a big hook standing around waiting for his sheep to be dumb and need saving- he is a dirty, tough looking guy demanding his sheep pay attention to him, and doing whatever it takes to keep them safe. This is what God as shepherd looks like- fierce, protective, willing to get dirty and step into the filth of humanity to get our attention and guide us down the path he has for us. Now we need to learn to listen to his voice and follow.

A Troubling Reality

Christianity has become a way of thought not a way of life. Is this true for you? How can we shift back to Christianity being about a way of life? What damage is being done in the mean time to the “outside” world? Is it already too late?

The Impenatrable Castle

The Bible is full of beautiful imagery of God. God is like a rock, God is like the wind, God is like fire… So often now we say things like God is love, God is just, God is peace…but don’t really take the time to flesh out what this means. What does love look like? What does God as peace actually look like? I was reminded of this concrete imagery this morning as I read a Psalm for my morning devos. God is an impenatrable fortress (or castle, depending on the translation). God surrounds us and keeps us safe from harm. This is what the devotion was focused on, but my mind took it elsewhere. If God is an impenatrable fortress (which I take as fact), then nothing that we have to deal with or face has “snuck past” God. He knows about it all. Every temptation I face, every hardship I am forced to endure, all of it God has determined I can handle, all of it he has decided I can strike down. He has let it in to make me stronger, to help me grow.  I am protected by the impenatrable God, I have nothing to fear, because I will not be struck down by what comes my way. I may stumble, but I will not be overcome.

Watered Down Faith

Have you seen the commercial for some soup brand- I can’t recall at the moment which soup it is for- where the people are sitting idly eating flavorless soup appearing to be nearly asleep with boredom from it’s lack of flavor and along comes the hero who serves them all soup with natural sea salt and great flavor and they are suddenly excited to be eating? I think of this commercial when I think about the church today. I read an ariticle about how the gay Episcopal bishop was “horrified” by the strong Christian language of previous inauguration prayers. Yes, that’s right, a Christian minister was horrified that a Christian prayer used such strong Christian language and rhetoric. He felt the prayer needed to be more inclusive of all faiths.

Today we seem to think that in order for the church to be effective, in order for non-believers to want to come in to the church we need to remove the flavor and make it more appealing to a wider audience. The problem is, when we remove the “flavor”- the things that make us Christian- we aren’t making our faith more appealing but less. We have become the bland soup that no one wanted to eat. And if we aren’t careful another faith is going to come along and say, hey look, we have great flavor. Sure, some people might not like our flavor, but at least we have flavor.

I am a Christian, and I can’t imagine hearing a Christian prayer by anyone, but especially by a Christian leader, that doesn’t acknowledge who we are and who Christ is to us. By leaving out direct references to Jesus our Savior we are not making a prayer more inclusive, but less flavorful. It’s not going to be anymore appealing to non-Christians, but it will lose some of it’s meaning and value and flavor for Christians.

Today’s culture may be one that views truth as relative, but that does not mean that truth is flexible. People today are not looking for an all-inclusive truth. They want THE Truth, but they don’t feel a need to agree with others on what that truth is. They don’t want bland soup, they want a strong flavored soup. But they don’t think that the soup they like best should be the soup the next person likes best.

Watering down Christianity doesn’t make more people want it, it makes it less appealing to both those in the church and those outside the church. We aren’t lacking vitality, we aren’t ceasing to grow because we are too strong on our message, we are lacking growth because we are not strong enough on our message. Let’s add some salt back in and reclaim those fire-and-brimstone ideas of this is the truth, either embrace it or get out.

A Dream Realized

It’s a beautiful thing to be celebrating Martin Luther King’s life the day before we inaugurate our first African-American president. I cannot imagine anyone not being moved by the beauty of this. MLK’s dream has come a step closer to being fully realized- a giant step closer.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

 Now let’s see the rest of it realized. Jews and Gentiles, Protestant and Catholic, Men and Women, Black and White, and yes, I’ll go there, Homosexual and Heterosexual. I wait for the day we cease to be divided by our differences and instead are united in Christ.

 

Apathy

If I were to sum up the biggest problem we in the church face today I would say it is apathy. I am reminded of Revelation when it says that because the church in Laodecia is neither hot nor cold God will spit them out. I have heard a fair number of sermons on this passage- it’s one of the more popular passages from Revelation to preach on in my experience. But for some reason we aren’t taking it to heart. We are apathetic in our desire to grow, we are apathetic in our caring about justice, we are apathetic about building community, apathetic about following the rules God has given, apathetic about morals, apathetic about correction, apathetic about politics, and on and on.

It seems that we fool ourselves into believing we aren’t apathetic because we are busy. We have tricked ourselves into mixing up being busy with caring. At LCRC when there is a sign up for PADS few people sign up (I am at least as guilty as the next person having never done it myself). When there is a fellowship event maybe 20 people come out- and it’s the same 20 pretty much every time. Families rearrange their schedules for sports, but when it comes to church activities if something else was planned church gets cut. Putting money in the offering plate isn’t supporting the work of the church. Praying for the homeless isn’t the same as taking action to help them. Saying you care about something is not the same as caring about.

We have to stop fooling ourselves into believing this lie. We are the church at Laodecia. We are the ones who are neither hot nor cold. The fire is smoldering, the ashes are warm. Until we start to care, until we stop being lukewarm we are not going to grow. And lack of growth means only one thing- death. The only things not growing are things dying. If we don’t want the church to die we need to start by caring. We need to stop being apathetic, we need to stop lying to ourselves. We need to start caring- caring about one another, caring about justice, caring about obedience, about God. There is no room for apathy in love.

I want to get up and shout with passion and conviction. I want to feel on fire for God, for anything. I need to stop talking about acting and act, I need to stop thinking about what it means to seek justice and act justly. I can’t wait for everyone to be on board, I need to do it now for me, for God, because that is what it means to be a child of God. I cannot be lukewarm. Lukewarm is dying, and death is not good.

But it’s hard to step out on my own. I’m not sure I have the strength. God help me, I’m tired of apathy.