Well, after getting a bit off-track at the end of last week, I hope to refocus our attention on the book. In so doing, maybe we can clarify the journey we are on just a little. The discussion was good on Sundays, but not what I had hoped. By the way, I had a great Sunday with my church yesterday. We worshiped, we played, we celebrated dads and it was encouraging. So, for those of you who might be worried that I'm not experiencing anything good in my Sunday expressions of the church, that just is not the case.
Now for today...The 1,700-Year Wedgie. Just reading the chapter title brought back memories of 7th grade sleep-overs at friends houses! Once I got passed my juvenile tendencies, I settled in for a great 7-page chapter. Here is the first part that grabbed my attention:
"When we call for the ancient way of church to return, we are calling for a return to this revolutionary position, outside the center of the dominant culture." (p51)
Right now, I am sitting at "The Chick" (Chick-fil-a), writing and I am listening to music that at one time was reserved for the privacy of one's own heart and maybe a youth campfire service. As I look around, no one is bowing, no one is lifting their hands, no one is clapping, no one is singing (out-loud). The Chick just might be the most popular fast-food restaurant in our area. There are always people here. That being said, "worship music" plays on the stereo and people hardly even notice. I love The Chick and I hope they keep playing the music, but to me it is an example of how the church has lost it's revolutionary position.
"The ancient church influenced the world not by lightening up their values or by veiling them, but by living them out in plain view of the culture around them. Their lives exposed and challenged the present value system with new Kingdom values." (p51-52)
I see this as achievable for the Church today. I do not want to go back to primitive dwellings, no electricity, no cars, no this no that. I have said before that I love our modern amenities. However, there is a place in the culture that the ancient church occupied that I want to get back to. Don't misunderstand our push for ancient church as a push for method - it's about mission!
Halter then moves into 3 specific cases where Kingdom values replaced current values...and can again!
1. The Value of Sacrificial Community (Acts 2:44) - operating like a spiritual co-op, where people had their needs met within the community
2. The Value of Confrontation (Acts 5:1-11) - because incarnational practices are relational, confrontation is much more direct and affective.
3. The Value of Inclusive Community (Acts 11:1-18) - God was getting Peter ready to change how Peter viewed people, especially the "nonbelieving Gentiles." The Good News was there for everyone - man, woman, young, old, slave, free, Jew and Gentile.
It's easy for us to get caught up in conversations about Sunday morning - nice conversations, by the way - but ultimately we all have to ask ourselves serious questions about our experience, no matter what flavor. In the early church, nobody repainted the picture to make it more attractive - in fact, a case could be made that Jesus often made His Way less appealing to those with whom he shared. "God's strategy of challenging valueless values with Kingdom values was the way the church grew in respect and in numbers." (p54)
These three specific values are increasingly difficult in the sterile environment of large group gatherings, but not so in smaller groups of relationally connected people. Yes, we can all come together and pool resources and gather 1000 backpacks at school, but the impact of a small group pooling their resources to support a family in the group whose husband has lost his job, is not only revolutionary to the one being served, but to the rest of the group as well. Sure, the speaker at a large gathering can "confront" everyone in the room with the words he says, but personal confrontation from people we trust and who know us goes a lot further for both the confronted and the one confronting. We can have services that involve people in large room of different colors and maybe different versions of the same belief, but in the smaller group context we can have people of any, all or no faith sitting in a room discussing their views of everything from Tiger Woods to the early apostles, and it's good.
This chapter gave me further clarity in the reason we are sailing in uncharted waters as a small church plant. We refuse to settle for good things, when better things might just be around the corner. As others have stated recently, different does not always equal better, but when the goal is to see people relationally connected to God and to their neighbors, different methods must be explored, lest we just repeat the same patterns of ineffectiveness as our predecessors. I for one, want more and I know there is more out there.
"We think God tells us to serve in order to get people to respect us or like us so that they'll accept our God. The real essence of biblical blessing is that it's done with no strings attached. Hopes, desires, fervent prayer, yes - but no strings at all attached." (p143)
Posts
