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Deep Church 3

Brazos – Day Glo

I hope you appreciated Belcher’s comments on unity and new ecumenism as much as I did.  He repeatedly referenced this idea of the “unity of the Gospel,” which he says is embodied in the classic Christian Creeds.  Of course, not being familiar with the Creeds could pose something of a problem for us.  While I have yet to memorize even the shortest of them, there have been times when I was more familiar with them than I am right now.  Reading over them again, I was reminded of few things.

First, they are simple.  With the possible exception of the Athanasian Creed (I’ll get to its strengths in a minute), they say what they need to say and no more.  They don’t get bogged down in side issues, which of course is the point – both of the Creeds and Belcher’s praise of them.  They deal with what are “core” beliefs of the faith.

Second, they are clear.  There is very little ambiguity in them.  While I was somewhat amused by repetitiveness of the Athanasian Creed, you have to admit…  it is painstakingly clear.

But third, and perhaps most striking, they are radically Trinitarian.  Really, the subject of another post entirely, but it is interesting that the early Christian Fathers put such an emphasis on this biblical truth.  Lose sight of the complexity and mystery of the Trinity, and everything begins to unravel.

Ok, there’s my two-bits.  How about you?  Do you see a “new ecumenism” taking shape?  Is it one that you see as defined by this two-tier idea of inclusive commitment to the “top tier” truths?  What role do creedal confessions play in the church today?  What is your favorite creed?  Favorite ice cream flavor?  Favorite Thanksgiving food?

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Word Pictures

The Swell Season – Star Star

A little while back, I read Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story and Imagination by Brian Godawa.  Don’t let the cover or the title fool you.  On first impressions, one might be led to believe that it is artsy-heavy and theology-lite.  The author’s involvement in the movie industry might also (mis)lead one to believe that as well.

It ain’t.  He is up on his theology and does a masterful job synthesizing a wealth of biblical, cultural, and historical information.  Of course, as with any book there are shortcomings, and I would welcome the opportunity (as unlikely as it seems) to clarify some points with him.  Nonetheless, his main point is taken well enough.  The modern church has relied too heavily on propositional truth as enshrined in systematic theologies and the like, and not enough on story, narrative, imagery, and icon.

While you can head HERE to read the first chapter, this quote should give the flavor of the book…

“The net effect of this virtual ignoring of the theological value of art is the implicit devaluing of it.  As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and a systematic theology without a developed aesthetic is an implicit sign of an underlying belief that beauty is not an essential part of theology.”

So again, while there are times when he overstates his case and fails to take certain factors into account, I am in general agreement that we stand to lose much when the arts (in their manifold expression) are ignored.  This book is for anyone who loves the arts, the Word, and fairly weighty theology.

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Deep Church 2

One of the things this chapter does well is identifying the concerns associated with the “emerging” church.  So which (if any) of the protests are ones that you share as well?

Just so you don’t have to go back and look them up, here they are again…

1) Captivity to Enlightenment Rationalism
2) A narrow view of salvation
3) Belief before belonging
4) Uncontextualized worship
5) Ineffective preaching
6) Weak ecclessiology
7) Tribalism

Ok, even as I type, I am recognizing that some of this sounds fairly esoteric.  Let’s try to flesh it out.

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in your place

For several years now, my understanding of “place” has been developing.  That is to say, where we live, work, worship, and play matters.  My thinking on this is still relatively scattered, and I’ll share some auto-biographical comments in this post.  But my thoughts were stirred again when I came across this article.  It is a little dense, but it should appeal to the poet, farmer, and theologian alike.  I’m not suggesting that those are mutually exclusive categories either.  Most theology would likely be improved by a healthy dose of poetry…  and farming.  I digress.  Read the article.  You won’t might not be sorry.

I was also reminded of a friend in Seattle who is pushing on this question in a highly rigorous fashion, albeit from a somewhat different angle.  In fact, it was living in Seattle that the wheels first began to turn on this.  Alison and I were living in a suburb some twenty minutes (over thirty in traffic) away from work and worship.  I realize that in today’s society, traveling long distances to do either of those activities (and a host of others) isn’t uncommon.  But the thought was firmly lodged in my mind…  there is something different about actually being in a community.  “In” being more than just a preposition of location, but carrying the full significance of all that “in” possibly can.  “In” in the sense of “fully invested in.”

So when we moved from Seattle to here, living in close proximity to the place I would work and we would worship (which for me happen to be the same place) was a high value for Alison and me.  Even the choice for where our children would go to school was driven largely by the same conviction.  It is right across the street from the church, and while it isn’t “the” school, it is the school in the community to which we felt called to sink roots.  So we bought a house that is within walking distance from all the above.

I couldn’t be more grateful that we were led/compelled to choose this home.  The house itself is nothing special, but as they say in business – “location is everything.”  We could have built a life in nearly any home in our city, but we have done so here.  This few block radius is by and large where life happens for us, and so there is a deep sense of connectedness to our (holy?) place.  Our home is centrally located in the city, which means it is highly accessible for friends and family and on the way to anywhere they might be going.  It is affordable, simple, warm, and sufficient.  It truly is and has been God’s provision for us.

I’m not saying that this is the house we’ll live in for the rest of our lives.  There are numerous reasons for considering moving… where our children attend school is starting to spread geographically, our family has grown – not just numerically – but in the sheer volume they take up, not to mention my on-going fascination with forming an intentional-missional-community.  But every time the question of moving comes up, we always end up responding…  “Why would we want to move from here?  This is our place.”  With an appropriate stress on each word of that sentence.

When you have eaten and are satisfied,
praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
Deuteronomy 8:10

(grossly out of context, but there is some truth for us in there.)

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Deep Church 1

Ok, so here we go.  I’m going to throw out several questions that came to mind as I was reading the introduction and first chapter. Feel free to answer any, all, none, others, or ask entirely different questions.

In the Introduction, Belcher paints a picture of the rift that has and opened between the “Traditional” and “Emergent” church.

How aware are you of this growing division?
Would you identify yourself as leaning more traditional or more emerging?
How have you been affected (if at all) by the in-fighting?
Do you think Belcher’s broad strokes paint a fair picture of the current state of evangelicalism? Would you describe it any differently?

In chapter 1, Belcher briefly recounts his own story and relationship with the church.

How has your history with church influenced where you find yourself in relation to these two poles within (North American Evangelical) Christianity today?

Belcher describes a strange sense of being both an insider in the emerging movement and yet at times feeling alienated from (an “outsider’) as well.

Can you identify in any way with that “insider”/”outsider” feeling as it relates to church?

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Deep Church… Almost

Ok, so I think about a dozen people or so are committed to reading this book together.  We are shooting for having our first “discussion” next Monday (11/16).  Just in case, you haven’t gotten your hands on the book yet, and can’t wait to dive in, here’s a LINK to the intro and first chapter.

Once again, I hope that there isn’t uniform agreement among all of us reading.  I’m not one who likes to argue just for the sake of arguing (despite what my beloved might say), but it will be sort of boring if we are all just nodding our heads ‘yes’ from week to week.  But on the flip side, I think it goes without saying, that we should strive to respect each others’ opinions (including the author’s).  Sometimes electronic discourse creates an environment in which people say things that they might not normally if they were face to face with a person.   Ok, you get it.