I was thinking a bit about my comments yesterday regarding the segregated nature of our faith, where God is not central to everything in our lives. There's a belief in God, but not a participation with God that is natural. This is in part because of our sinful nature, but perhaps it's also because we've historically defined or thought about faith in terms of what we do instead of who we are.
Who we are as people is made up of a number of different things...personality, gifts, etc. These things follow us around. There is no putting your personality off at one place and then taking it up at another. While we supress our gifts at times, they are still a part of who we are. This ought to be the goal of our faith in Jesus. No matter where we are at time or place we are present with Jesus, and He with us.
So instead of describing our faith by Bible reading, prayer, or other activities, maybe it's more helpful to use descriptives: faithful, holy, just, peace-loving...go down the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 or the descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians 13. If we truly love Jesus, these are helpful descriptives as to what that would look like...what Christ-followers should look like. So you can tell them by who they are. The characteristics are fluid...they become part of every aspect of our lives. These characteristics cannot be done apart from Christ. Naturally we pull away from such characteristics, but being one with Christ brings us back to these things again and again.
So when we talk about how we're defining our faith it should be more about how God is shaping us and working through us. So in response to the question: What does a Christian do? it should be more than go to church, read the Bible, pray. My answer would be more along the lines of..."I allow myself to be shaped by Jesus. I realize I'm not a perfect individual...sometimes I'm not even good...but I know that Jesus wants me to be like Him, and I'm open to letting Him do that. In fact, it's something I seek out."
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
- Tendencies of this Generation's Faith
Todd Hiestand had a post on 7 Big Questions that were asked to major leaders in the Christian community. He wondered if some of us ordinary folks who blog would tackle these as well...getting some responses from folks not in the spotlight. Since I fit the "not in the spotlight" qualification, I figured I'd give two of the questions a shot.
1. What is a negative tendency of this generation as it relates to the faith?
Simply: the church has become irrelevant to the ins and outs of their lives.
What I mean is this...God is an addition to what's already going on...school, families, dating, career, etc. God is not the center of it. God has moved to the periphery, and while they seek for God through the above things, God is not central to these things. Character is shaped by the crowd...worth is shaped by companionship...and lack of worth is based on the same.
I don't think it's that they don't want God, but they don't know how to go about the pursuit. They don't know what's entailed or expected. They see Christianity as do's and don'ts instead of being...a being where one is present with God in all things, at all times, and in all places. So there really shouldn't be the separation of God here, work/relationships/school/etc. there, but that's the separation that we tend to see as we grow up (as I am a part of this generation...however an older part). When we see that sitting through an hour in church doesn't solve the problems, and no one tells us how Jesus matches up with the complexities of life, then I believe this group ends up right where it is...confused and bewildered.
One of the responses to this is simply through relationships. This generation, if they've been in church at all, was probably raised up on programming...school/tv/home/church...everything was a program. The thing about programs is that they're segmented and uncohesive. Programs don't translate well into all areas of life, because life is just not that structured.
A return to relationships and community is a must. Faith cannot be a Sunday gathering, it must be lived out and exemplified by the parents and the larger faith community every day. Being able to do life with others is where discipleship happens, and it's where Jesus meets us. Faith has been isolated into a neat box and that paradigm of thought is being done away with, especially in my generation. Jesus needs to have something to say to the totality of our lives...and He does. Our generation needs folks who will help us hear what Jesus is saying...and that comes from the one-on-one friendships we have that guide and shape us.
1. What is a negative tendency of this generation as it relates to the faith?
Simply: the church has become irrelevant to the ins and outs of their lives.
What I mean is this...God is an addition to what's already going on...school, families, dating, career, etc. God is not the center of it. God has moved to the periphery, and while they seek for God through the above things, God is not central to these things. Character is shaped by the crowd...worth is shaped by companionship...and lack of worth is based on the same.
I don't think it's that they don't want God, but they don't know how to go about the pursuit. They don't know what's entailed or expected. They see Christianity as do's and don'ts instead of being...a being where one is present with God in all things, at all times, and in all places. So there really shouldn't be the separation of God here, work/relationships/school/etc. there, but that's the separation that we tend to see as we grow up (as I am a part of this generation...however an older part). When we see that sitting through an hour in church doesn't solve the problems, and no one tells us how Jesus matches up with the complexities of life, then I believe this group ends up right where it is...confused and bewildered.
One of the responses to this is simply through relationships. This generation, if they've been in church at all, was probably raised up on programming...school/tv/home/church...everything was a program. The thing about programs is that they're segmented and uncohesive. Programs don't translate well into all areas of life, because life is just not that structured.
A return to relationships and community is a must. Faith cannot be a Sunday gathering, it must be lived out and exemplified by the parents and the larger faith community every day. Being able to do life with others is where discipleship happens, and it's where Jesus meets us. Faith has been isolated into a neat box and that paradigm of thought is being done away with, especially in my generation. Jesus needs to have something to say to the totality of our lives...and He does. Our generation needs folks who will help us hear what Jesus is saying...and that comes from the one-on-one friendships we have that guide and shape us.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Change for the Better
Here's an opposite perspective from my last post on change where change was all around us but not always necessary. Some background first...my wife is in social work, and she has been almost all of our married lives. There is certainly part of our culture or the broader human race where what has happened in the previous generation repeats itself time and time again. You see this in cycles of abuse or with addictions. You see this in marriages with roles or even with faithfulness. Cycles tend to repeat themselves.
But here is the great thing with the gospel...these cycles can be changed. This type of change I would suggest is beneficial and necessary. This is the type of change that churches should be working for. Let me rest on that thought for a minute...churches...agents of change to toxic generational cycles...
Have you ever been on a vacation or to some exotic place and tried to describe the pictures to someone else who hasn't been there? It's a difficult situation. The awe and enjoyment you had when you went is somehow hard to transfer to the person you're describing it to. But what if you had the funds to actually take them there...to show them in person the things you've experienced? It would then be something you shared...a common experience...the conversations would go on forever as you would recount the time you had.
It's one thing to say someone ought to change...to describe to them how they ought to do it, why they need to do it, why they will benefit, etc. It is entirely another to live with them through their current experience and bring the light of Christ to where they are. As followers of Jesus, we can bring the reality of hope into hopelessness, not flaunting it as something they don't have but demonstrating it in such a way they understand it is something within reach, no matter how desperate the situation.
But just as generational cycles repeat themselves over and over, this type of change (although good) does not happen quickly...it may not even happen at all. The cost of showing Jesus in this way is high. It's not programmatic. It's messy. Recently I've been privileged to see God work in the lives a few individuals in very dramatic ways...this was after a year or two of being with them and working through very hard things...but the reward was beautiful...life they never knew was possible, or at least they couldn't see it from where they were standing.
All that to say there is change that is good and for the better...change that is salvific and life transforming.
But here is the great thing with the gospel...these cycles can be changed. This type of change I would suggest is beneficial and necessary. This is the type of change that churches should be working for. Let me rest on that thought for a minute...churches...agents of change to toxic generational cycles...
Have you ever been on a vacation or to some exotic place and tried to describe the pictures to someone else who hasn't been there? It's a difficult situation. The awe and enjoyment you had when you went is somehow hard to transfer to the person you're describing it to. But what if you had the funds to actually take them there...to show them in person the things you've experienced? It would then be something you shared...a common experience...the conversations would go on forever as you would recount the time you had.
It's one thing to say someone ought to change...to describe to them how they ought to do it, why they need to do it, why they will benefit, etc. It is entirely another to live with them through their current experience and bring the light of Christ to where they are. As followers of Jesus, we can bring the reality of hope into hopelessness, not flaunting it as something they don't have but demonstrating it in such a way they understand it is something within reach, no matter how desperate the situation.
But just as generational cycles repeat themselves over and over, this type of change (although good) does not happen quickly...it may not even happen at all. The cost of showing Jesus in this way is high. It's not programmatic. It's messy. Recently I've been privileged to see God work in the lives a few individuals in very dramatic ways...this was after a year or two of being with them and working through very hard things...but the reward was beautiful...life they never knew was possible, or at least they couldn't see it from where they were standing.
All that to say there is change that is good and for the better...change that is salvific and life transforming.
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