Things I learned this weekend

I learned a few things this weekend at a retreat. There were a half dozen couples who met in upstate New York to talk. And talk. And talk. Two full days of conversation from dawn to dusk and into the night--we'd only relocate for meals (or an occasional walk or bball)--but the conversation never really stopped. It was GREAT!

Things I learned:

• God is alive and active in his world. He never stopped working and he never stopped speaking. Most people never hear him because they don't know how to or even that it's possible.
• Listening isn't enough regardless of who you're talking with. To really begin to understand each other all parties involved should try to hear the others. Listening isn't enough. (Let those who have ears to hear, hear. And be assured that God gives good gifts to his children when they ask him: Ask, seek, knock.)
• There's a wonderful sense of peace that comes when I no longer feel like I must say the things I'm thinking. I can wait and let other people speak first (their comment might be much more important or profound). Once a few seconds of silence have passed, then I can say what I want to--if I still want to. I don't have to share everything I think of.

Christ Died for Our . . .

Who are we?

I think words are very important. For instance, it really bothers me when someone dismisses something as "just semantics." Connotation and word choice convey ideas, and really, what else do we have to communicate with (specifically concerning the written word)?

As a result I'm always trying to think of more accurate ways to describe things. According to a recent personality profile I'm a refiner through-and-through. It seems to fit.

So who are we?

Many names have been used to describe this "new" thing that God is doing. The Revolution, simple church, the Emerging church, house church, organic church. As is my tenancy, I feel somethings not quite right with each of them.

The revolution is too ambiguous. I like ambiguity, insofar as it sparks conversation, but too much ambiguity tends to make me just walk away--perhaps I'm afraid of what the answer might be.

Simple church has too many connotations and too little concrete meaning. Are we a simple church? Yes, of course, but I'm not really sure what all that means. I feel the same way about organic church. What does it mean to be organic? Does it mean we don't add preservatives? We're supposed to be salt. Does it mean we only follow natural methods? What does that mean anyway? Can I still use my TV to show a video? Is that organic? I think so . . .

House church reassigns the church to another location. Can you have a house church in a bar? I suppose so, but it sure would feel kinda weird.

And I have issues with the word church to begin with. As I understand it (working from memory), the word translated church is ecclesia which originally just meant assembly. Obviously it came to mean much more. Church on the other hand translates from the German kirk which is most accurately translated as temple--a building. I'm quite certain that buildings should be a non-issue. There are plenty of times where having one is very useful. There is so much the Body can do without one. It seems amoral.

So, I ask again, who are we?

As of this morning the best I've come up with is:

An Informal Church

There you have it. It's not great. It might not even be good. But of all the options I've come up with I like it the best . . . for now.

A somewhat related question is, what are we about?

Try this on for size:

An informal community trying to find the joy and glory of God everywhere.

Comments? Questions? You know where to go.

Charismatic Tithing??

Don't start getting spoiled, but there have been too many "coincidences" in the past 12 hours to not share.

A bit of back story: Over the past several months/years I've had a staggering number of conversations about social justice and the Christian's proper response to helping those in need. I'm still thinking through the issues, but I'm definitely now more on the side of, "Let's do everything we possibly can to help restore as much of everyone's humanity as is possible!!"

So, for those of you not in a simple church you might not realize that we have no real expenses up here. We meet in houses. We feed each other whenever we get together. We share and just basically love being together, but we have no building, no mortgage, no heating (well, we do, but heating houses hardly counts. Although it feels like it should with $400+ heating bills--see my previous post.).

You might say, "So what's the problem? That hardly seems like something to complain about!" I'll tell you. Where does the money go? We need to be generous, but we don't have the "easy" option of just giving money to "the church" and washing our hands of the matter. There are so many good options out there, but I haven't been giving nearly enough of myself or our money.

Isaiah phrases it interestingly (check out the context):

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness
and your night will become like the noonday.

Spend yourselves? How do I spend myself everyday? In a chasing after the wind? In pursuing religion?

Or in pursuing God and what He cares about?

Back to all the coincidences. Last night Adam W, a great friend who recently joined our group of Christ-followers, went to talk about a stewardship campaign at a local parish. While taking his wife, Nikky, home I asked what their experience with the Health and Wealth gospel has been. She hadn't ever heard of it.

Their position is that if a body of believers has committed to each other then they must share responsibility in all areas, including the finances.

Including the mortgage and heating.

What a profoundly simple idea. It makes so much sense.

This morning I was eating at my regular breakfast nook, The Broken Yolk, when the cook asked me if I had my Bible with me today. She was interested if I knew the verse where we were told to give 10%. I went off into a long diatribe on how that was never commanded of us--Abraham set a good precedent and Jacob after him, but we don't have to. We have to be generous with out lives.

Fortunately someone came in a placed an order, so she sent me looking in Ecclesiastes (where I found the profound wisdom I linked to above). I had some time to realize I was not having a conversation, I was teaching. When she came back to my table we talked, she read Ecclesiastes 5, she found Malachi 3:10ff, and we had a conversation.

I then realized I had been answering the wrong question. There are several commands to give 10% (literally "a tithe"), they just all happen to be in the Hebrew Bible.

Several months ago she had told me that her community is an Assembly of God in Revere. Before leaving I asked her about it (since yesterday's sermon had been on tithing) and she told me that it's a Spanish congregation and she'd love to have me visit. They even have a wonderful lady who will translate into English whenever someone shows up who would otherwise be lost.* I'm really looking forward to visiting soon.

The final coincidence was that George Barna had sent me his weekly study of American demographics while I was at breakfast. Here it is. Definitely something to think about.




*LOST. Isn't that a great word? I just finished a book AKA Lost that talks about how demeaning it is to even think that way. We strip people of their humanity when we don't think of them as humans, but rather "the lost." However, I most certainly would be lost at a Spanish congregation without a translator. Perhaps the word isn't all bad . . .

A surprise post

I never thought I'd say the following:

When I stepped outside yesterday my first thought was, "Wow! 24 degrees is so warm!"

That, my faithful few, is the sort of insight you've been without for the past 4 months (and yes, we have been having single digit highs). I know, because I haven't been sharing anything here. Sorry about that. But I make no promises for the future. Blogging isn't a new years resolution. But I'll try to be better.

In other news, here are my favorite 20 photos from 2007 (out of 12,609 I took this year). Feel free to pick your favorite in the comments.