cairns

In the early days of studying intentional communities in America there were endless discussions of the success or failure of various communities largely based on how many years they persisted in the exact form of total shared property and possessions.  My friend and mentor, Don Pitzer, and I often discussed the flaws in this model.  Some did great things in a short period of existence.  Some came into existence and faded away again with barely a ripple of effect noticeable anywhere.  Some continue as well known communities today, just in far different forms.  Don finally developed the concept of “developmental communalism,” which you can read about in his book shown on my widget.  Under this model, a community which meets the aims it is designed to meet, especially if it can successfully evolve over time to continue to do so, is a success.

As he and I were having lunch this week, it dawned on me that maybe what some of us are talking about is a similar attitude towards church.  People react so violently when they think we are attacking the Bible, their favorite theology, “fundamental” doctrines, or even forms of worship.  It seems that individual congregations (I am using this word on purpose in an attempt to stop refering to different campuses and forms as different churches, which appears to me at this time to be un-Biblical) are often deemed successful when they persist over a large number of years and attract a sufficient number of attendees, whether they make any percievable difference in life or not.

What if we are talking about considering our particular practice of the church as successful when it accomplishes the purposes the church is designed to meet?  Why should the congrgation not be expected to change and evolve (Duh, grow in depth and maturity?) over time?  Why should the forms and practices, including engagment with the broader culture, not also be expected to change in a responsive way over time in a healthy example of the church?  Is it success to keep doing what we did in the 18 or 1900’s and insist that anyone who wants to worship with us do the same?  Or is it success to engage present reality, gifts, and needs and respond meaningfully to them in full knowledge that what we “do” and how we do it, may continue to change over time?

I like the idea.  It seems obvious to me which view would most likely make visible the presence of the Kingdom in our midst.

peace

Comments Off

Just spent a week of fever, trying to think, trying not to think, and watching too much news and TV.  Most of the feverish part was beyond comprehension.  But, then I began to notice more and more how I was observing reports and entertainment of a world that makes no sense to me.

Then, one night desperate for something that wasn’t garbage I watched an hour on George Beverly Shea, of Billy Graham fame.  It was typical Gaither “enjoy this? buy this!” material.  But, I love that voice and those old songs.  (I was surprised to see which ones were actually new when I was learning them as a child!)  Problem was those historic clips from the seventies.  I know those people!  I understand those people, like some of them and am glad to have escaped some of them, but they make sense to me.

And it dawned on me that I am a child of Vietnam, Camelot, TV Crusades, Woodstock, Assassinations, Bible prophecy, Young Life, Cold War, Space Race, and so much more from a time most of the people I now work with have no knowledge of, and definitely no connection to.  And, I wonder why I do not understand their actions, beliefs, apparent ignorance of conventional manners and civility, self focus……

Its official.  I woke up from my fever in future shock.  The only comfort is that Doc and Toffler explained it to me a long time ago…

What it leaves me to wonder is how does anybody play the elder role well in a society changing so fast that today’s generation gap makes the sixties look like play time?

peace

Comments Off

I keep musing about the boat because we are once again in a boat that appears ready to sink.  We are in two declared wars with connections to many other conflicts.  We have a failing economy.  And both of those pale compared to the fact that our planet may have exceeded its capacity to sustain our high impact life styles.  There may be no solution that takes us back to what we thought was normal.  This way of life may be done for.  And, when our modern boats go down they wipe out the whole lake eco-system!

It is very comforting then to see this Jesus who continues to be at one with natural world, Who holds the universe in place by his thought.  There is far more at stake here than our 401Ks.  And it matters that we know how to turn to the Divine, even if we find ourselves chastised.  We are not innocent victims in the current storm.  We have lived far beyond our means and the capacity of the planet.  We have been busy punching holes in our own boat!  So, it is a metaphor that resonates with me right now.

S tells me the Native Americans may be about to finally win the war after all as the only ones who still know how to live without all the extras of our economy.  I know we could have paid far more attention to what they had to teach us about the respect Creator God gave man for all life, before we told them they had to change what they called God and all their culture to match our Euro-centered supposed superiority.  I don’t know if there is much hope in their corner either, the damage we continue to do may beyond what any of us have the capacity to deal with.  I have seen up close how harsh our crushing of the Native life has been.

But, tonight I have two other thoughts.  First I see hope in the change which becomes official on Tuesday.  Maybe, just maybe, we have an opportunity to rise above who we have been and seek the people we have claimed to be.  Maybe we have a chance to recognize others in the two-thirds world as our true brothers whose lives must also be cared for even now.  Maybe we can stop to realize that constantly disappearing species are an affront to Creator God which even the most fundamentalist reader of scripture must acknowledge.  Maybe we have a chance to come together and begin to look for a new path with a heart.

Also from a completely different angle, today I was reading a classic on humility and surrender and came across the scene of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, sweating blood before God in anticipation of what was to come before declaring the Divine fiat which restored us to relationship with God and empowered Him to endure the cross.  Perhaps the only reason we do not use “fear” in describing this scene is that we fear it would be blasphemous.  But, Jesus is upset here!  He is in agony because He knows what is coming and how bad it will be.  And, I do not think it is a stretch at all to say that like us He turns to God and says, “You awake?  Can you help me here?”  Then He obeys.  I wonder if my pastor friend would dare to say Jesus needed to spend more time with Jesus, reading the scrolls, hanging out with the disciples, or going to temple?

L, hit it on the head as far as I can see.  We are called to go where any sane soul would quake in order to do the works prepared for us.  So we go, and we say without shame, “Hey Jesus, these waves are getting big!”

I do not see any human leader as the embodiment of that divine hope.  But, I as I sit here tonight, I am hopeful that Jesus just might be answering,  “I have given you a new leader, a new start, a new chance at hope, a new potential for relationship with the rest of the planet, so trust in Me but listen when he calls you to action.”  There is work to be done and its our boat.  I do not believe it will be magic or easy.  But, I know the Savior who built, sustains, and loves the boat, and I sense new hope for what is possible with the leader we have chosen.

peace

4 Comments »

I have known since I was an undergrad in the 70’s that utopia is a word play on “now here” vs “no where.”  This is always true in efforts at creating community, and no place truer than in the church.  For my part, I expect more from the church.  I expect you to function on a different level than my worldly associates.  I expect you to forgive my own shortcomings more readily than my worldly associates.  So there is always a tension between what we desire to be, what we are, and what we are willing to accept in each other.

In my current decision process my pastor friend seeks to remind me that we are called to reconciliation with both God and man.  True enough.  But, that means I forgive your human frailty as I expect you to apply grace to mine.  It does not mean we are meant to stay together in the same community forever.  Some of the most influential communities in American history existed for a short time and then morphed into new forms and/or launched their members back into the general society.  Don Pitzer brilliantly calls it developmental communalism.  The church should be so lucky as to change, evolve, and allow individuals to do the same.

As I write this, I am mentally/spiritually/emotionally someplace between looking for a church, and abandoning the modern western church as having very little in common with what Jesus, or the apostles, were talking about.  But then, I am a little short on handing out grace right now.  I salute K for finding a meaningful home in the Catholic Church, B for finding a place with the deaf, Doc for rediscovering the local church after years of damage and distance, T for trying to call the next generation of leaders to totally new realities, and S for being real with me and even helping me hunt for a church while having no intention of going to one!

For the moment I can only sing Leonard Cohen,

“Even if it all goes wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah.”

I know its “just” a love song, but that’s the point isn’t it, being able to find the hallelujah in the togetherness of our brokeness even if its time to let each other go.

peace

2 Comments »

This morning as I read the trial of Jesus, something struck me in a new way — related to yesterday.  I have always heard descriptions of the crowd asking for Barabbas focused on the contrast between him as the murderer and Jesus, the innocent.  Usually the priests are blamed at least by implication for stirring the people to make an absurd request.  Today, the description of Barabbas as an insurrectionist gives me pause.

They wanted a revolutionary.  I have often heard that sermon theme, but not connected to this passage.  It makes me wonder.  Did their anger against Jesus  actually increase because Pilot found no fault in Him?  They wanted relief and a leader who would bring them from under the thumb of Rome.  Even the disciples struggled with  why Jesus did not assume that role.  Then here he is handed over and the ruler is saying, “I see nothing wrong with him?”  Was the request for Barabbas a slam at both Pilot and Jesus? Were they proclaiming their desire for a warrior rather than this speaker of truth who called them instead to change themselves?

Are we still proclaiming the same message as the crowd?  American revolutionary, Malcolm X was not killed while spouting hatred, only when he came home with a new message of reconciliation and changing hearts.  Why does the candidate who claims our current military aggression in the Muslim world is just, in spite of all evidence, have a strong chance of winning the presidency?

How deep is this desire for somebody who will lead us out against the oppressor?  How much of our focus on the evil other is avoidance of the mirror?  How much of our draw to go and “save” (or destroy) the world is the draw of dramatic external change rather than the hard work of internal heart change?

Just wondering….

peace

Comments Off