Zoo Musings

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Scary!

Link: Jason Clark » meChurch: the church you have always wanted.

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Ain't Culture Interesting, Again?

Here's another way a different culture might work in the very same context (as the previous posting) and given the very same variables.

The issue is: which picture best describes your church ethos? Is your community a safe place for someone to stick out, whether for good or bad reasons, be it personal moral struggles, piercings, being different, or asking difficult questions.

The reality is that many "Christian communities" don't make it easy on those who stand out for whatever reason. I am reminded of a quote in Yancey's What's So Amazing About Grace. A prostitute who sold her own daughter for money to buy drugs was asked why she didn't go to a church for help. "Why would I go there? I already feel guilty enough!"

Ain't Culture Interesting?

This picture is used in the Home Page for Typepad, the folks who host my blogsite. I was struck by how culturally-bound and -informed it is.

If this picture was used in some other cultures, the "tag line" would have to be very different.

Actually, in some cultures there would be a lawnmower just off to the side of this picture, geting ready to mow down the one who dared stick her/his head up above the rest.

Where else we are blinded by our own culture?

Consumer or Servant?

Speaking for a moment as an American, to Americans: We have a skewed concept of authority. Apart from those who have served in the military, most  Americans see authority as something under which we voluntarily serve. Yet, as a culture, we often revere and extol those who know how to go around authority (just consider our movie themes and heroes). We buck authority. We often make those in authority appear to be stupid, short-sighted, non-heroic. When we consider our European forebears, we understand their flight from totalitarian and authoritarian structures. Our beloved Revolution celebrates the fact that Kings have no place in America. We'll bend the knee to no man or woman.

Without critiquing or assessing the rightness of American value and culture reflected in the paragraph above, let me simply pose some questions:

The Vendor Of Religious Goods and Services?

I am in the process of re-reading MISSIONAL CHURCH: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, edited by Darrell Guder. An additional sub-title might add [and Churches Established in accordance with North American Models]. Following is an extended quote from this book that ought to make us think long and hard about how/why we do church the way(s) we do.

The Digital Sanctuary

Link: The Digital Sanctuary.

Web-Based Faith Posted on September 11, 2006 A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years. The report, issued September 11, 2006, concludes twentysomethings continue to be the most spiritually independent and faith resistant age group in America. Barna concludes church attendance is particularly irrelevant to this age group. Most of the “spiritual” activity of young adults, such as it is, takes place outside of a traditional church congregation. Rather than attending weekly church services, twentysomethings were more likely to attend special worship events not sponsored by a local church, to participate in a spiritually oriented small group at work, to have a conversation with someone else who holds them accountable for living faith principles, and to attend a house church not associated with a conventional church. Interestingly, there was one area in which the spiritual activities of twentysomethings outpaced their predecessors: visiting faith-related websites. The highly respected Barna Group has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984. Discovering that twentysomethings explore faith-related... see the rest at http://thedigitalsanctuary.textdriven.com/2006/09/11/web-based-faith/

A Vote for Imbalance

During a discussion about spiritual things, my father once told me: 'Religion is fine, if you keep it in the right part of your life.' Simply put, he was saying we need to have balance in our lives. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Isn't a balanced life a prerequisite for health, for maturity?

 

Courageous Faith

...faith, when you think about it, is not merely intellectual assent to a set of propositions but the supreme gamble in which we stake our lives upon a conviction....It is far closer to raw courage than it is to mere belief. And missional leadership [must be] courageous and willing to...risk all if necessary to see the kingdom come (p.189).

In a footnote to this statement, Hirsch and Frost state:

...faith, when you think about it, is not merely intellectual assent to a set of propositions but the supreme gamble in which we stake our lives upon a conviction....It is far closer to raw courage than it is to mere belief. And missional leadership [must be] courageous and willing to...risk all if necessary to see the kingdom come (p.189).

In a footnote to this statement, Hirsch and Frost state: