Well, a big thanks to Hamo for posting the first comment for this blog! And as a way of saying thanks I thought I’d blog about his question about structures and church, partly to say thanks but mostly because I think his question gets to the heart of this blog.
Firstly two observations. (1) Structures in churches / groups is what frustrates us about churches / groups. (2) Structures in churches / groups are what makes or defines a group.
All churches have some kind of structure.
A) To be part of the early church in Acts you had to give all your possessions to a collective pool.
B) My home church (currently consisting of me and my wife and another couple) meet every Sunday morning. And although this is perhaps the only spoken rule we have, there are lots of unspoken rules. Like, none of us would just invite someone else to the group, and we usually read a Xn writer or look at the Bible in some way.
C) Some Anglican churches who have a very structured liturgy have a theology far more flexible than a lot of alternate churches.
So, does your church (or dream church) have a structure?
My little test is this, will these 4 people be welcome and have an equal part to play in your church?
1. A conservative Xn who thinks the left behind series is great theology
2. A Gay Xn
3. A militant Xn who wants to kill all Islamic people
4. Me
In short if your church (or dream church) does not allow for equal participation by these four people then it has some structure, and that’s not a bad thing.
The title of this blog basically comes from the idea that we all have, at some point, a line where we say that’s not church and this is. Church is more than just meeting with Xns. If I met with some Xn friends at a coffee shop and talked about the latest bjork album is that really church? For me it would be a great and valuable thing to do but it is not church. Church has a structure. The big question is what is that structure or more simply what is church?
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Thursday, August 26, 2004
There will be no "deux ex machina!"
Just got an article sent to me today by Andrew Strom. A follow up to his article on nine lies. One of the great things about the article is it gets people thinking about things we normally associate with being Xn and then gets us to look at the Bible. So we learn things like "asking Jesus into our hearts" is not in the Bible and Jesus doesn't talk about "prosperity" (I better not start writing on the prayer of Jabez). All good stuff.
However, A. Strom talks a lot (as do many others) about the need for revival. Which after doing a quick word search in the NRSV, CEV, message, RSV and King James bibles and found no hits.
This got me thinking about Bonhoffer and his detesting of the idea of "deux ex machina" An ancient Greek idea often used in their plays where God comes in at the last minute and fixes everything up.
Revivals are quick and spectacular things, were God comes in and fixes everything up. I would argue that God is not like that. Jesus was born in a stable and died with a bunch of criminals, and when he did do miracles asked people not to tell others. Hardly spectacular, and futhermore part of being Xns (the church) is that we are God's ambassadors on earth (eph 6:20). And, because it is us doing the work it's not going to be as spectacular as a revival might be. To quote Charlie Kaufmann's movie Adaptation "there will be no deux ex machina!".
So, maybe it's time to stop praying for a revival to change the world and start asking God to change us so that we can change the world. Just a thought.
P.S Adaptation has a great example of deux ex machina, when Laroche is killed by an alligator at the end of the movie.
However, A. Strom talks a lot (as do many others) about the need for revival. Which after doing a quick word search in the NRSV, CEV, message, RSV and King James bibles and found no hits.
This got me thinking about Bonhoffer and his detesting of the idea of "deux ex machina" An ancient Greek idea often used in their plays where God comes in at the last minute and fixes everything up.
Revivals are quick and spectacular things, were God comes in and fixes everything up. I would argue that God is not like that. Jesus was born in a stable and died with a bunch of criminals, and when he did do miracles asked people not to tell others. Hardly spectacular, and futhermore part of being Xns (the church) is that we are God's ambassadors on earth (eph 6:20). And, because it is us doing the work it's not going to be as spectacular as a revival might be. To quote Charlie Kaufmann's movie Adaptation "there will be no deux ex machina!".
So, maybe it's time to stop praying for a revival to change the world and start asking God to change us so that we can change the world. Just a thought.
P.S Adaptation has a great example of deux ex machina, when Laroche is killed by an alligator at the end of the movie.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Introduction to this Blog
A Churchless Faith is not something that I have active sort after but rather something that I have fallen into. Like many others I know I have found my self churchless but with a very strong Christian faith.
This Blog is a diary of my journey, trying to work out if I can and how I can be a Xn without being part of a regular Sunday morning or evening church. I know people who are part of home churches, alternative worship services, and more besides. Yet for me and many others I talk to there is something about these new ways of doing church that just doesn't seem to sit right.
I think much Alternate church can fall into 3 traps
1. The Smorgasboard Faith: This is where we pick and chose which bits of Christianity or Church we want how much we have and how hard we want that to be for ourselves. The potential problems of this include leaving of difficult and import bits. An easy Faith tends to have little impact on our lives and a faith that doesn't impact us and change who we are is surely meaningless.
2. The Eternal Youth Group: This is where we end up starting a church with only those within a couple of years of each other. Where we loose the wisdom and traditions of older people and lose the challenges of making church so accepting that even a child feels comfortable.
3. The Pre Constantine Paradise: This is where we sit around (as I have done) and complain that things would be so much easier if we lived in first centurary Palestine before Constantine had come along. Constantine wasn't all bad, infact mostly good. He unified a splintering church, and combining church and state was just what you did back then, every other religion did it and know one in that time had any notion that this could be anything but positive. Besides a church with heirachies and beuracracy is what necessarily what happens when it becomes really big, which it is. We cannot have a small church structure for a church that is as big as it is now.
So what now?
I don't know. I know I don’t like communal singing, I find learning from sermons difficult and Rituals have never been a part of my life. So when I goto church that leaves me enjoying the Bible reading and the cup of tea afterwards. Oh, announcements are knid of neutral for me.
I do know I want to want respect what has gone before me build on what God has been doing for the last 2000 years. I also know I want to do something new, something fits with me, but challenges and streches me and something that is attractive to other people Christian and non-Christian
Now, I've got to work out where to start...
This Blog is a diary of my journey, trying to work out if I can and how I can be a Xn without being part of a regular Sunday morning or evening church. I know people who are part of home churches, alternative worship services, and more besides. Yet for me and many others I talk to there is something about these new ways of doing church that just doesn't seem to sit right.
I think much Alternate church can fall into 3 traps
1. The Smorgasboard Faith: This is where we pick and chose which bits of Christianity or Church we want how much we have and how hard we want that to be for ourselves. The potential problems of this include leaving of difficult and import bits. An easy Faith tends to have little impact on our lives and a faith that doesn't impact us and change who we are is surely meaningless.
2. The Eternal Youth Group: This is where we end up starting a church with only those within a couple of years of each other. Where we loose the wisdom and traditions of older people and lose the challenges of making church so accepting that even a child feels comfortable.
3. The Pre Constantine Paradise: This is where we sit around (as I have done) and complain that things would be so much easier if we lived in first centurary Palestine before Constantine had come along. Constantine wasn't all bad, infact mostly good. He unified a splintering church, and combining church and state was just what you did back then, every other religion did it and know one in that time had any notion that this could be anything but positive. Besides a church with heirachies and beuracracy is what necessarily what happens when it becomes really big, which it is. We cannot have a small church structure for a church that is as big as it is now.
So what now?
I don't know. I know I don’t like communal singing, I find learning from sermons difficult and Rituals have never been a part of my life. So when I goto church that leaves me enjoying the Bible reading and the cup of tea afterwards. Oh, announcements are knid of neutral for me.
I do know I want to want respect what has gone before me build on what God has been doing for the last 2000 years. I also know I want to do something new, something fits with me, but challenges and streches me and something that is attractive to other people Christian and non-Christian
Now, I've got to work out where to start...
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