look up the stats

Here’s a quote taken from page 101 of Transformational Church by Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer.

I believe the biggest reason Christians in general experience so little transformation in their lives is that they ignore the Bible’s relational mandate for how to effect change. We were never meant to live the Christian life alone. Christianity is an interdependent, community-oriented faith. And yet when we set out to improve our prayer life, or deal with our anger problem, or increase our income, or become a better father; most of the time we work on it completely alone.

Tony Stoltzfus, author of Leadership Coaching

Some astute observation from the above writers: for as we say at phoenix-metro: community trumps isolation: and Jesus trumps everything: and as for religion? Well, in it’s well embedded institutionalized dogmas and power structures: it somehow manages to almost completely remove relationship from the picture: one of the ultimate ironies considering the trinity is the supreme example of relationship: something not obviously taught with any sharp focus in institutionalized thinking; the ‘Sunday go to meeting wearing a mask to hide the reality of ones own life’ is completely contradictory to the message; but it is: alas, carried out with consummate aplomb by many folks come Sunday: I agree totally with the above quote: but if I had written it myself: I think I would’ve replaced the word Christian with what I see as a more accurate term: ‘believer’: for at the sad, frayed, tired, worn out, ‘devoid of any relevant insight’ end of the Christian perspective and thinking; we still find the illusion of rugged individualism being ‘sold’ as the real deal: but Jesus came to bring community: for He would not bring and teach what He was not part of would He? And He was/is and shall forever be part of the Trinitarian community:

honest: open dialog enabled Paul and Peter to publicly sort out their differences: rather than hide behind a web of half truths and machinations: there are too many people in the Kingdom protecting what they regard as their ‘own’ position, place and part in it: not making any real attempt at passing the baton: forgetting that at some stage in their own past; someone past it to them: oh the irony: somehow forgetting also that ‘no man is an island’: and ignoring the thoughts of such folk as MLK Jr who said that: ‘we exist in an inescapable network of mutuality; a single garment of destiny’:

mutuality and a single garment require community: community requires advocacy: empowerment: enablement: and most importantly love: and love is open and honest: not a clanging cymbal of passive aggressive nonsense wrapped up in a veneer of ‘christian’ respectability.

For I saw His face; now I’m a believer. I didn’t see His face and become religious.

We need to remove mindsets that lead to apathy and atrophy:

What does "church" look like when you take it out of the box, re-envision it: replant it, and let it grow more organically? It's going to stretch and challenge us; as it should: it's going to take on openness to forms and practices we’ve never seen before: it will remove the false comfort provided by the mindsets that would happily ‘stay at home in the same familiar surroundings and structures’. To my mind, Jesus was the arch usurper: not a lazy boy and slippers kinda guy. He was a bloke. Not a standoffish, pious pseudo intellectual, touting His swag bag of supposedly relevant qualifications.

Churches should, could, would, might, maybe meet in pubs, or homes: or strip clubs: are you knee jerking yet? Where did Jesus hang out? I rest my case.

Churches that have no I AM leader, or have leaders who don't look like any pastor you've ever known: if I had a nickel for everytime I’ve been judged for looking the way I do: (by church folks) I’d own Berry Gordy’s mansion in Detroit by now.

Pastors should hosts discussions and enable dialog: and then enable others to do the same: not bore us with relentless monolog: a community should have as part of its culture the desire to listen long and deep to doubts and questions before presenting the answers: Jesus is a mystery; so maybe your dogma should surrender to the mystery: rather than the other way round?

Churches shouldn’t be so highly leveraged that buildings swallow up 80% of the gifts and offerings: what a waste.

So where should one draw the line? And therein lies the point: we've now entered an age where we no longer know how to draw lines, because the old criteria just don't work anymore; it’s been found wanting: how many folks do you know who are in full blown recovery from fundamentalism: the current institutionalized modus operandi excludes the vast majority of the people whom we were charged with interesting in the gospel: belief in Jesus isn’t plummeting like a suburban off a cliff face: but ‘belief’ in Christianity is. Look up the stats.

which came first: the chicken or the egg: or the butterfly wings before the earthquake

A thought process on the 'Reasonable calculation of the sum total of all past interpersonal and observational interactions'.

Say what?

Let’s start with the postulate that our characters and mannerisms become, in most cases, more predictable to others over time: even if we somehow manage to remain blissfully or ignorantly unaware of the smell that our own lives give off: the longer we persist along a chosen path: and the longer we adopt certain mindsets: artifacts and traditions: the more the path and the mindsets, artifacts and traditions that put us on the path in the first place: actually become the predictable path:

That is to say: they eventually become our predictable path:

It goes something like this:

The path we take becomes us: as much as we become the path we take: sure, there are random events that we cannot predict: but if folks know us on any level at all: beyond the superficial: with the added benefits of time and some well won relational real estate: the folks in our lives can probably predict with some degree of certainty how our response and actions to most events will play out: if there's any kind of discernment at work in them: they'll spot who we are in us.

Do, our lives in fact give us way? Or should I say: Our lives do in fact give us away?

For our actions speak louder than our words.

Our words vary from the sacred though to the profane, the erudite through to the superficial bombast: but our lives, as lived out in front of the interwoven-ness and inescapable network of mutuality that is life on this planet: tell a far more accurate story about us.

You can tell me I can trust you: and of course you tell me with words: I will eventually find out if I can trust you: Because I will start from a place of trusting you: for that is my own personal modus operandi: and then you will either be found wanting: or not: by your own words and the statements you make about yourself: for as time passes and your MO reveals itself:

Your actions will either irrefutably reveal themselves to be in synch with your words: or alas, and more importantly: reveal where your life and any resultant actions reveal themselves to be at significant odds with what you have spoken ‘to be so’ about yourself: you might fool yourself: but you are less likely to fool anyone with a modicum of discernment: or street smarts.

For generally speaking, the range of viable options and responses we are capable of choosing: tends to diminish over time.

For instance: God revealed to Jesus some very predictable aspects of Peter’s character: Jesus, being no fool: knew about Peter anyway: He had worked with the fisherman for the past three years: and had Peter’s character ‘banged to rights’: so Jesus was able to say to Peter in an uncomfortable blessed assurance of His awareness and understanding of the man before him: ‘you will deny me three times’: Jesus knew this to be so:

Simply because He knew Peter.

He had seen Peter’s love, heart and emotions worn on his sleeve: the aforementioned superficial bombast through to the declaration of love for his savior spoken by the fisherman: Jesus had also seen the trust in Peter as he got out of the boat and attempted to walk on water: Peter's actions were, over time, giving him away: so the prediction of the denial, could be called, form Jesus perspective: either:

‘A reasonable calculation of the sum total of all past interpersonal and observational interactions’.

Or: if you prefer: divine foreknowledge.

Either way: Jesus hit the ball out of the park when He called out Peter on that one: accurately calling what was soon ‘to be so’: and as we all know, for Peter, the soon ’to be so’: became the ‘and it came to pass’.

Anyone who knew Peters character as perfectly as Jesus did: and Jesus would ultimately know Peters character better than Peter would know himself: could make the ‘reasonable calculation of the sum total of all past interpersonal and observational interactions’: and work out how they would play out under such highly pressurized circumstances as those surrounding, say, the crucifixion drama:

The drama in these circumstances could have easily been orchestrated by God: or the unfolding drama in the circumstances could have been the 'stuff' that God would choose too work ‘with’ and ‘through’ as He turned the terrible into something altogether magnificent: the way back to God: which makes Paul’s statement: ‘everything works together for the good of those who love Him’: actually be found to be true: and not just a trite cliché.

Jesus made a public spectacle of the powers and authorities by ‘nailing them to the cross’: the curtain was torn in two: the way back to God had just been bridged by the forsaken divine calling out to Fatherly divine: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

So in the darkest moment of the darkest day: Jesus: whether fully aware of it or not: was confirming that all things do work together for the good of those who love Him: as insane as that sounds to us: especially when we ourselves have just been trampled underfoot by some idiotic diatribe or callous action aimed in our direction by another: it comes nowhere close to the idiotic mindsets and resultant actions stemming from such mindsets that Jesus had to deal with: and respond to: and ultimately surrender to: throughout the crucifixion narrative:

But in nailing Him to the cross: we eventually find out in Colossians that the powers and authorities had been made a public spectacle of themselves: and were in fact also somehow nailed to the cross: the point is this:

Everyone eventually overplays their hand:

The enemy had just played the worst hand of all time: in the nanosecond that he thought he had succeeded in playing his best: and actually killing God: it turns out that he had defeated himself: his last best weapon: death: had been eternally defeated: where o death is your sting? where o grave is your victory? nowhere mate: that’s where:

So the questions I would like us to ponder given the above are these:

How much of the above crucifixion narrative did God the Father orchestrate, via divine foreknowledge? And how much did God ‘improvise’: that is to say: work with and through the circumstances, the personalities and the characteristic traits of all who took part: to bring about what He wanted to bring about: redemption.

Knowing the characters of all the players in the drama: and knowing the fact that character becomes: in most cases, more predictable over time: the longer folks persist along a chosen path: adopting a certain mindsets: the more the path and the mindsets that put them on the path, become the path itself: so as much as they become the path they took: the path they take becomes them.

I know this sounds like a riddle: bit it isn’t.

So if God knows us on any level at all: and if He does, it will be well beyond the superficial: then He can probably predict with what we can call divine certainty how our response and actions to any events will play out:

For our lives do in fact give us away.

Our actions do speak louder than our words.

Our words are mostly pollen adrift on the breeze.

But our lives, as lived out in front of the interwoven-ness and inescapable network of mutuality that is life on this planet: and our lives as lived out within the interwoven-ness of the divine narrative and interaction with man: tell a far more accurate story:

God has your number: and He also has mine.

God revealed to Jesus some very predictable aspects of Peter’s character: as we said earlier: Jesus knew them anyway: He had worked with the fisherman for the past three years: so Jesus was able to say to Peter ‘you will deny me three times’: knowing this to be so: simply because He knew Peter. I've said this before: but as it's starting to sound a little bit too much like the 'red pill or the blue pill' from the Matrix: it warranted repetition.

Jesus had seen the manifold character traits that made Peter who he was, at work in him from the time he said ‘come follow me’: so the prediction of the denial, could be called: either ‘reasonable calculation of the sum total of all past interpersonal and observational interactions; or 'divine foreknowledge’:

But either way: a no-brainer.

So the questions are:

How much does God orchestrate?

Is it all sown up?

Is it all a done deal?

Or how much does God ‘improvise’ with and through the machinations and orchestrations of fallen man to bring about what He intended to being about in the first and final place?

Is it possible for man to throw God a curved ball: Or not?

Or is the reality more akin to this:

Man throws a curved ball: but God knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt about all of our idiosyncrasies and characteristic traits can ‘foreknow’ the curved ball about to be launched: because He knows us better than we do ourselves: and then ‘work all things together for good’ just as the ball is thrown: for He saw your curved ball coming before you were born: and He also saw it within the sum total of your interactions and this ability we refer to as divine foreknowledge.

Or He saw the curved ball, because: a reasonable calculation of the sum total of all past interpersonal and observational interactions’ regarding yourself: was, and is possible: and while you may have thrown the ball: or you may not: and either did throw it: or didn’t: God, sustaining all things: can deal with the possibility of many possible realities simultaneously:

Knowing that whatever events transpire: He will bring heaven too earth: and He will bring eternity to here.

Final point: if the future is 'closed' rather than 'open': in the sense that all that is ever going to happen to us: or all we are ever going to do: is already cast in stone in eternity: what's the point of life?

I don't want to be awoken from my slumber one day to find out I was just following a script that I didn't even know existed: but apparently did: and was written by some writers with whom I'd like to have a word: and it also turns out that I was, and am also currently powerless to alter the script because everything about me: the 'reasonable calculation of the sum total of all of my past interpersonal and observational interactions': made, and continues to make my path all the more obvious: all the more predictable and all the more knowable over time:

Did I paint myself into this corner, by my actions: or am I living in this corner because God ordained it to be so? Is it 'either/or', or is it 'both/and'?

While Jesus works 'all things together for ultimate good': even though now for a little while, from time to time: the 'stuff' of live is on a Newton's cradle swing of 'magnificent to mundane' and all points in between: Jesus just left Chicago.

You might not see Him in person: but He'll see you just the same.

Thanks to Gregory Boyd: and to all the folks who have ever walked into and out of my life: and helped me discern: and to make sure that I never turn into a teacher who forgets how to learn.

there are things beyond our ken

If something's beyond your ken, it is beyond your understanding.

So then; 'The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing':

I think that quote is from Edmund Burke and i have always liked it:

Of the two mindsets that are, broadly speaking available to us as individuals: there's the 'either/or mindset': which might also be referred to as the 'black and white' mindset: or there's the 'both/and' mindset: of the two: I much prefer the 'both and' mindset: I prefer the ambiguity: I have no problem with residing there: it's a great place: less fraught: less dogmatic: less anal.

The Greek mindset which has stolen the rabbinical mindset from us in the west: has, it seems to me, to be proven to be found seriously wanting when applied to matters of faith: this is why I advocate for dialog and a certain ambiguity: and the preferring of each other within the dialog taking place. I have no problem with not knowing.

But I really do want too know what you think: the problem is: that particular mindset is not very often reciprocated: folks spew their thoughts and diatribes all of me: or all over facebook: end their train of thought with the words: 'it is written': and we're supposed to buy that?

We have seen the enemy and the enemy is us: especially if the 'us' is on facebook: it's the arena for dialog that most resembles the carpet bombing of cities during war: it is rampant with cowardly bombast.

Really listening is now approaching extinction: an artifact and a characteristic trait of our ancestors human condition now long since gone the way of the dodo and the mammoth: that of story telling: which requires really listening: Jesus told stories

But now the skill of story telling and listening has morphed into something more akin to this mindset: 'I'll pretend to be listening to what you're saying: but in reality I am searching the deep recesses of my limited intelligence: looking for the witty retort that makes me look smarter than you: then I'll feel good about myself at your expense: and I'm fine with that: for while I beleive that God is love and that one should love one;s neighbor: I all for it: as long as I come out on top: if I dont: I'm not playing'.

These folks wanna tell you what they think and then clear off before you can offer another perspective: why is that?

We are all fallen: yet those of us 'in Jesus' are also saints

Fallen yet saints: hmm....

Sinners yet righteous: hmm....

Old Adam at war with new Adam: hmm......

The flesh at war with the spirit: hmm....

Yet in spite of the sum total of the above (seemingly) oxymoronical / dichotomous statements: there are folks who think that regardless of the above apparent 'simultaneous conditions' at work within us: that they are the ones who have it all 'nailed down': the mind boggles.

What nonsense: what hubris: what arrogance.
When did the clay become the 'arch definer' of what things mean?

The potter does that right? Defines what things mean: and the potter is called Jesus

Why is the Talmud still being written?
if there's nothing new to learn?
The simple fact is that there is always something new to learn.
Why is Yahweh still being discussed?
Because we don t know everything: that's why.

Even Jesus didn't know everything: really; it's in there: and He said this about Himself.

Alarmingly, inspite of the fact that Jesus was happy too say He didn't know everything: I have met some folks who would happily claim that 'badge' for themselves: in fact they polish it up every morning and parade around town, as if arrayed in some sort of mystically superior regalia: I much prefer the tee-shirt: Jesus loves you: but everyone else thinks you're an ( inset mild expletive) much more accurate to my way of thinking.

We can all learn something new: always: but we have to want to learn something new to actually learn something new: right? QED

In fact it is our duty as believers to engage in dialog and take a leaf out of the rabbinical tradition and approach: 'both/and': plus dialog equals the disappearance of the 'tit for tat ya boo sucks mentality': it is in fact the only grown up version of discourse: simply because: by definition: discourse is 'grown up': yelling at each other from opposite sides of the table is what we did when we were kids: a la: 'my dad is bigger than your dad': I'm rubber: you're glue........

I'm a genius: whereas you've about as much imagination as a caravan site.

But alas, the fact remains that there are too many folks who practice faith by proxy: they follow the guys who shout the loudest: regardless of the flavor and political color of the shouting: do any of us really know with absolute certainty what we vehemently claim to say we know?

I doubt it.

Once in a while taking a leaf out of the scientific mindset and approach wouldn't hurt: (when discussing matters of faith) the world used to be flat: the earth used to be at the center of the universe: when dialog and a desire to understand trumped these insane ideas: we grew up: although it took some folks a lot longer to do so than others: and these folks took longer in the name of the all seeing all knowing christianity. Oh the irony.....

Life is 'both and' : I have said this for years: and firmly believe it to be true: things that look apparently blatantly obvious may be anything but: the world used to be flat.......

But when humans walk in black and white: erroneously thinking that they can selectively sanction the 'goodness' or the 'badness' of the sin or characteristic trait under discussion: they are treading on Holy ground: and are foolish in the extreme to do so: once they pass judgment on the 'it': whatever the 'it' is: and pass judgment a few too many times: they perceive it as part of their own dominion: their 'calling' if you will: they become the oracle. As if.

What idiotically stupid bores....

We are called to be love: for God is love
We are called to be ministers of reconciliation: because Jesus reconciles us too himself:

So: if we don't smell like the 'reconcilers of love' (good name for a band that) we are out of line: not Jesus

And by the way: passing judgment once is 'a too few many times'

For the dominion of judgment belongs to God and that means the 'both and' mindset needs to be remembered and practiced a lot more: our ways are not His ways and our understanding is not His understanding and the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom: are we ever gonna buy that?

The parables were to some extent open ended: on purpose: to get folks to go away and say 'hang on a minute' what the heck was that fella on about?

All the times I have personally heard a sermon on the prodigal son: I have never once heard the preacher saying anything remotely about that story the way I see it: because my understanding and interpretation of that story comes from the sum total of who I am: just as your interpretation and understanding comes from yours: who ever 'you' are and whoever 'I' am.

One thing's for sure: ain't none of us the I AM

Dialog was by definition built into Jesus teaching and ministry: it was his modus operandi: so it should be ours.

The absolute nonsense that folks who believe in Jesus distance themselves form other folks who believe in Jesus because the 'others' hold views that are 'at variance' with their own is quite frankly beyond ridiculous. It is the ultimate 'anti Jesus' thought process: and it goes something like this: 'if you believe in Jesus you have to think about Him and all His teachings in the same way that I think about them: or you're wrong: not sound: and probably dangerous: and just plain wrong: for I am the oracle: and just plain right': ever met anyone like that? I sure have.

Too many times as it happens......

This mindset removes grace and acceptance from our human story and within the story and the interwoven-ness and interaction of God with man: it replaces it instead with assumption: condemnation and judgment:

All the things the vast majority of believers are good at: that they should in fact be useless at doing: the trouble is: when you practice stuff: over many years: you get good at it.

And if the folks who hand out the Oscars ever decide that judgment , condemnation and assumption are to become part'n'parcel of the ceremony: it would never bloody end: too many candidates

By this shall all men know that you are my disciples: by what?

By love.

We need to get good at the right stuff: right?

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality: a single garment of destiny: MLK

It's like we never heard a word he said;

Thanks to Gregory: Clif and Peter for firing my thought processes further on all this 'stuff'

peace
love
mike

Communication breakdown: and how to avoid it.

Phoenix-Metro: open letter

Communication breakdown: and how to avoid it.

If our family and community is to stand: the following mindset must be seen as 'self evident': and we must adhere to it: for the sake of ourselves,: and even more so for the sake of Jesus and the continuance and furtherance of His Kingdom.

If a theological position is true, it ought to be able to handle any and all objections and questions raised against it: at least: better than any competing positions. Just because we think a position or stance taken by us is 'so': doesn't make it so: especially if the mindset behind the thought process can be shown to be contrary to a fundamentally basic understanding of the mindset of God: Namely put God first: and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus final prayer to the Father for His church was that : 'they may be one: as we are one': John 17:22.

Believers are called to exhibit a loving unity among each other that reflects nothing less than the eternal, perfect love of the Trinity.

This does not mean that we must always agree on all things any more than the love between a husband and wife means that they must always agree. It does mean, however, that we must agree to 'love one another amidst our disagreements'.

If we only love those who agree with us, we are in fact not loving others at all. This too, is self evident.

Repeat: If we only love those who agree with us, we are in fact not loving others at all.

We are in fact only loving the (assumed) 'rightness' and perceived 'sacredness' and 'sacrosanct immovability' of our own position. Disagreeing with one another need not, and should not, be scary and divisive: as long as we keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus.

Dialog and discussion is fundamental to the culture of our family and community at Phoenix-metro: and one that I have gone out of my way to encourage and enable as pastor: this too is self evident.

We 'prefer' the other: that means we listen to the ideas: thought processes: mindsets: and questions raised by anyone in our family and community: any direction we take after all the dialog is in: will fulfill the law: as it applies to us under the new covenant: and it is this: as handed down to us by Jesus Himself: put God first: and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Again, this doesn't mean that we should pretend that our differences don't exist, as one might expect from a dysfunctional family: and we are not dysfunctional and while I am the pastor: we never will be.

I have been part of too many dysfunctional churches and their leadership to submit myself to this type of 'standard operating procedure' anymore.

Let's do it for real: or let's not do it at all.

I am not in this for myself: or to build my own Kingdom: I am compelled by Jesus: so you won't ever find me feigning the required amount of pious posturing and fake humility to keep my job as I have seen some do who refer to themselves a 'career pastors': you can have a career as a doctor: answering Jesus call has nothing to do with a career: Paul was compelled: He never referred to his position as a career: rather, he referred to himself as the worst of dinners: or the least of the saints: these descriptions are ones that I am happy to have applied to myself.

But I am not a dysfunctional man.

And we are not going to entertain a dysfunctional approach.

No: the opposite is going to remain true: and it means that we must therefore face our differences and discuss them openly in love: Ephesians 4: 15. This is how we learn from each other and grow together in truth and in love as a family and a community.

Since it is important to fully understand and appreciate the strengths of a position before we critique it: our first objective: as always: will be to examine whether the position under discussion opposes any passages that can be found in the biblical narrative: and in the collective culture of our family and community: and decisions made within the our community must always fall within the heart and mindset of the Trinity.

Therefore, when we dialog: I would like to encourage us all to continue to adopt and maintain the stance of 'preferring' the other until all the evidence is in: stating one's position then refusing to engage in debate is not dialog: it is monolog: and we have already firmly established that monolog is not part of our culture.

Stating one's position and/or objection(s): then having them found to be 'false' position(s) after what will generally only require a cursory glance at the mindset of the Trinity and the written word of God: means that once these positions can be found and clearly be seen as false: and against the heart and mindset of Jesus: these the 'position(s)' whatever they may be: must fold.

Simple.

If folks are intransigent to the idea that their 'wants' don't match the requirements placed upon us by the summation of the law as stated by Jesus: 'love God first, and love your neighbor as yourself': our intransigence to engage in reasoned debate is, alas, no more than the spiritual equivalent of 'my dad is bigger than your dad': it's the proverbial ostrich head in the sand.

That is not a mature approach to faith: and is the opposite of preferring the other. It is childlike.

But we are not called to remain children forever: so we must not act like children but like a family and a community looking to move into well founded and grounded maturity in Jesus. That has to be the culture at work in any and all individuals for the authentic expressions of love: advocacy: support: encouragement: agreement: and a willingness to learn and a willingness to have any and all positions submit and be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Jesus: because as stated above:

If a theological position is true, it ought to be able to handle any and all objections and questions raised against it: at least: better than any competing positions. Just because we think a position or stance taken by us is 'so': doesn't make it so: especially if the mindset behind the thought process can be shown to be contrary to a fundamentally basic understanding of the mindset of God: Namely put God first: and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Whenever we are used to hearing only one side of a story, it is easy to read our beliefs into the evidence, as we perceive it, rather than let the evidence speak for itself:

Everything must either stand or fall against the test of the biblical narrative, and of our family and communal discussions and decisions: all made within the summation of the law: as presented to us by Jesus: and as seen in practice by the new testament narrative: the acts of the apostles: and the early church.

If we don't love and dialog like this: we will fail: and I have no intention of letting a failure to dialog: or an intransigent posture hold any sway whatsoever within our community.

I would not be doing my job of shepherd if I did so. Jesus wasn't 'nice': and alas, 'playing nice' has somehow become part and parcel of what is taken to be christian in this day and age.

The 'passive-aggressive fake smile sunday go to meeting modus operandi and demeanor' will not become the norm in our community: I will not let it: Sometimes love has a tough side to it:

Because believers are called to exhibit a loving unity among each other that reflects nothing less than the eternal, perfect love of the Trinity.

mike: phoenix-metro community church.

I would like to thank Gregory Boyd for some thoughtful input into the above.

Continually obscuring what is clearly and permanently transparent

An up front recognition before we delve in the matter itself: there are a few good folks who are returning to Detroit and there are also churches who are working for the benefit of their community and the motor city: but I am suggesting in the following that more could be done: even if we just start with aiming for a positive vibe: which in turn generally leads to action: a negative vibe somehow tends to dismiss the ideas and subject under discussion:

Following Jesus was historically an urban movement: of this there is little room for debate: Just read the book of Acts and Paul's letters for clear and reasonable proof: Paul took the message of a risen Savior to the major cities of the day: he went into towns and cities on his journeys: not out: and then, having set up various house churches in major cities in the area: he apparently thought that this strategy and these infant house churches were enough in and of themselves to eventually reach the outlying areas: his journeys and the many church planting activities and eventual churches he planted, seem to bear witness to his philosophy or strategy: into town: and not out:

Paul's thought process being that once the town had been reached: the town would then reach the outlying areas: today, we see the reverse in action: far too many cities have yet to recover from the flights to suburbia: or flights even further out into the boonies: now where one chooses to live is of course the result of many factors: place of birth: though less relevant than a few decades back: financial wherewithal: always relevant: where one's employment is located and options for making the commute to work a viable proposition: (if you're still blessed enough to actually have a job to go to that is): and ultimately if money is of little concern in the monthly budget: and location can be bought because you have the money to buy it: freedom of choice: oh, for freedom of choice: I feel as if my life is being permanently painted into an ever decreasing corner: it's lack of option is seemingly relentless: and it's as if there is now nowhere left to turn because I'm stood on the last square foot of unpainted corner on one leg, because there isn't room for both of my size nines.

Detroit is painted into a corner: it's collapse crept up on us all like a super slow motion katrina and covered the city in crap: it's almost imperceptible demise didn't become obvious until we all saw what was and now is: and remains the clear and permanently transparent case: insert internal combustion engine explosive expletive of choice here: for that's how far Detroit is now painted into a corner. It's a rowboat being paddled up the street in search of a river.

For those who have been able to access to the near imaginary 'over the rainbow destination' of freedom of choice: it meant pulling up the ladder and moving out: and has done for the last 40 plus years : once the city began its post apocalyptic decline: those left with choice, chose to leave in droves and so the decline sped up: and the monster ate itself: now we all know that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: so the 'escape from Colditz' emptying of the city also condemned those who still remain: condemned them once for not having the finances, the wherewithal or the gumption to get out and condemned them twice for leaving the remnant to take care of itself: so rather than the city retaining a critical mass population staying and helping in the caring and the rebuilding of the infrastructure: the houses: the local job market: and the resultant vibe on the streets: all of which would be in better shape had less flights occurred: have not happened: most of the folks that could have pulled up their ladder and left: I have come to the conclusion: after living on this side of the pond for 5 years that, for some, the scariest word in the English language is in fact: 'Detroit'.

Now if memory serves: those of us with faith haven’t been given a spirit of timidity: but one of power: power it would seem to overcome most things: but not this negatively charged endemic mindset regarding Detroit: if you're born in the burbs in south east Michigan: it would seem you are also born with a timidity regarding even the mentioning of the name of the city in the same way that superstitious 'luvvies' refuse to mention by name a certain play by a certain overrated playwright from Stratford: clue: MacBeth:

Detroit has acquired the status of the black sheep of the family: a distant cousin who was involved in an 'incident' some years back: and although we all know what we're thinking: and how disgraceful it all was: it never comes up for discussion: there's a faint nod of recognition once in a while: but no more.

Mike Myers said in Wayne's World that folks in the burbs were issued with Peter Frampton Comes Alive at birth: I'm thinking that inside the record sleeve must've been a document listing all the reasons to take Detroit's own Robert Clark Seger's advice: and if you'll excuse the messing with the lyric: get out of 'Detroit' as fast as possible:

This mindset of ignoring the first post apocalyptic post consumerist post everything wasteland seems distinctly not of the gospel to me: I was handed the latest report on Detroit population figures on Sunday: seems the last vestiges of those who can get out are in fact doing just that: why then do I find myself so drawn to the place? And why do some high profile major church denominations have seropresence in Detroit? Do they think that if they put their fingers in their ears and hum a little contemporary worship tune: while adopting the appearance of the correct patronizing pious posture: and never looking at the city whose name must not be mentioned: that Detroit will cease to exist?

Sincerity: you must absolutely be able to fake sincerity.

It seems to me that it is not readily possible any longer to continually obscure what is clearly and permanently transparent: Detroit needs help: it's not even on life support anymore: no-one is rushing for the crash cart and the paddles to keep it alive: the city stands as a great metaphor for the inherent consumerist selfishness that is habitual and part of us all: even those who claim to have been given new life and would therefore triumphantly 'amen' the fact that they have been given a spirit of power and not one of timidity: are oxymoronically turned to stone by mention of Detroit: now either the gospel is a lie: or our actions and faith are? For if in fact we do have a spirit of power: why is it that timidity and outright fear reign supreme? Most folks just pay sincere lip service to caring about Detroit: I know folks who almost freeze in terror at the idea of driving into Detroit: the question I find myself asking is this: where is the presence of Jesus, their professed Lord and Savior in their life and in that particular mindset? Absent: that's where. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho: Yes he did: but they say: 'if you think I'm even considering getting out of the car and fighting the battle of Detroit: forget it: Jesus will have to compel someone else: but not me': for you see: while Paul may well have taken the gospel into town: most believing folks within current orthodoxy prefer and support the construction of monolithic soulless buildings on the outskirts of town: where the new MO is as follows: instead of going into town: folks in the inner city now have to come out of town: to our swanky new build for a 'blessing': am I being hopelessly naive here? Surely to reach the inner city: you actually have to go into it?

Others state categorically that nothing can now be done: it is game over: routinely blaming corrupt politicians: or blaming the big three: or blaming the automotive workers: or blaming the tax structure: all of which are need of major reform: hell, everything in Detroit is in need of major reform: so here's a thought: maybe those who have been transformed by the renewing of their minds might have a slight advantage when it comes to thinking outside the generic box for ways to begin to go about fixing things: for that's where one generally finds Jesus isn't it: outside the box: starting with a little love: and then offering the same love: over and over again: yesterday: today and forever. Maybe if there was a forward lean of love: imbued with a sense and a spirit of power rather than timidity: Jesus could walk the streets: bringing freedom from oppression: condemnation and judgment and Kick royal ass.

What if you're the ass kicker He is compelling? Do you develop selective hearing? Most folks while listing their own preferred version of 'responsible parties for Detroit's decline' never mention the churches: why? There's been enough of them: maybe even too many: 65 Detroit churches went bankrupt last year: where was the coming together? The logical answer is that to a large extent it was missing: too many churches in too many towns sell you their version of the gospel: sure Jesus is in there somewhere: but that's just it: He's only in there somewhere: along with the other 'thing' that is the 'thing' they are 'selling'.

Let's change track for a minute: I am from London: and the worst place to drive in London: apart from the whole of the city itself: is around a giant intersection in the south west: in a place called Hammersmith Broadway: I always used to say that everyone learning to drive in England should be forced to learn to drive in and around that intersection: the last thing it resembles is driving down a country lane: it's complete madness: despite the addition of traffic lights some years back: if you drive there: you either cut your teeth on the experience and ante up and by default become a better reader of traffic: a better reader of the random danger: and a better reader of how to handle your vehicle: and really become a 'driver': or you don't: for if you can't drive in this set up: you can't really drive: you're only pretending: the gulf in approach and ability as you either cut the mustard or not: is as the night is to the day: you become by default either the cool incarnate Steve McQueen in Bullitt or Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone: The gap is as unbridgeable as jumping the ice rings in Cassinni's Division.

To adjust and to eventually master the proceedings of driving in and around Hammersmith the following is required: driving in power and not timidity: note: I didn't say driving with reckless abandon: I said power: as in 'assured'. If I am your passenger I would be assessing your driving on the approach to the intersection and would either have some 'blessed assurance' that we'll survive the ordeal: or I'd demand to get out and walk: and meet you on the other side: that is if you make it.

Jesus is supposed to remove fear and timidity and enable us to engage as readily as Paul did. Jesus is sovereign and building His church: fighting an urban spiritual guerilla war: fighting to transform our hearts, minds and actions: Jesus the one mediator between God and man: is urging us to love: enable: empower and advocate on behalf of everyone:everywhere: wherever and however they live: even the folks who live in Detroit: for we are not called to judge: but to love and help: there are deeply wounded folks wherever you look: but there is more hurt in our post apocalyptic inner cities: because that’s simply where the ‘more’ live: even though Detroit is now under half the population it once was: I guess when your city gets broken: or your heart gets broken: or your heart for the city gets hardened and dismissive: you see all the reasons why responding to the hurt is a waste of time: but Jesus always responded to the hurt: and He never thought it a waste of time: He was never too busy to stop and spit in someone's eye: He came for the sick: not for the folks with the manicured front lawn and in ground sprinklers: the cracks in the life of a city are far more obvious: for they exist one step away from your front porch: the daily grindhouse combo of massive unemployment and nuked infrastructure: the never ceasing 24/7 of it all: the lows: the injustice and the human tragedy that lies in the litter strewn gutters can just as easily harden our hearts as soften them: and there has been an en masse hardening towards the city of Detroit: surely the mission of the church is to make sure that this hardening of heart stops: and stops right now: but too many churches have a navel gazing inward focus: or pick the 'thing' that is going to be the 'thing' that they major on: and then they major on that 'thing' to the detriment of all the other elements of the gospel: and the 'thing' they generally choose to major on isn't the 'thing' that trumps all other 'things': and that thing is love:

Love.

For if and when we collectively by default: or by design: or by lack of foresight: or by lack of care: or by endemic corruption: close down our hearts to an entire city: everyone suffers: for there is indeed an inescapable network of mutuality that we find ourselves birthed into: and like it or not: we can't stop the world and get off: but when we do our best to paradoxically escape from this inescapable network of humanity: it's interwoven-ness and it's mutuality: we are the ones who weaken the chain: sure, we might feign interest: and deliver erudite intellectual homily stating that something must be done: for we feel that's what we are called to state: to ensure we maintain the grand illusion of giving a damn: all the while knowing deep inside that we have no intention of stepping up to the plate: when vast percentages of the church give up on a city: we are all the weaker for it: or am I missing something? and are you going to tell me that Jesus isn't interested in Detroit? Not interested enough to prompt you to action? And that the idea of being there for our neighbors is really more allegorical in exegisis than practical in application?

Jesus didn’t intend to be glorified primarily through us as individuals: Jesus is part of a social triune Godhead: so he created a world in which we will work more effectively when the doing and being gets done in relationship: community trumps isolation: if you’ve ever been lonely: if you’ve ever felt in need of support and had nowhere to go: you will know the following to be the case: we were not made to attempt making it through the stuff of life all on our own: it can’t be done to any acceptable measure: we are in need of a state of grace: brought into being in our lives by Jesus presence through relationship with folks who actually really do give a damn about us: and show it: any fool can talk the talk: I 've been on the receiving end of talker and the receiving end of walkers: the difference is cavernous: what happens when Jesus asks you to walk it?

For an organic community to work as it hopefully should: bearing the fruit of familial and relational DNA over the more traditional authoritarian and hierarchical approach: we must be open and honest with each other: and we must do all we can to refrain from a mindset that enables us to cast an entire city of potential relationships aside: and as always seems to be the case: the primary area needing our attention is relationships: our western culture has birthed in us all a modus operandi to think in individual rather than communal terms: the suburban sprawl: individual: the city: a collective: but much harder work: so to the relative safety of the suburban sprawl we retreat and retreat until the sprawl is never ending and the city has its heart torn out: and if money is of no consequence to our own little bit of Christendom, for we have more than enough: we build a magnificent Hearst castle or a log cabin in the boonies: depending on whether you like killin' stuff: or hanging stuff that other folks have killed on your wall: but the west has long since been settled and the rugged individualistic approach to life that is held in mythic status by so many: ends up bringing into being an en masse 'to hell with everyone' mindset by default: not that any one individual is that callous and careless: but the end result of a mass exodus of folks acting in 'pull up the ladder' splendid isolation: means by the universal law of cause and effect: denying the inescapable network of mutuality that does indeed encompass us all: it means that we have arrived at the junction of apathy and downer: where we find that a Manchurian candidate 'I don't want to engage' mentality is burnt into far too many mindsets: and our family: our street: our village: and ultimately 'our' city: we all suffer from the disengagement brought about by iconoclastic rugged individuality: I am known for being an outlier: for I am one: but even I get that I can't make it on my own.

The Trinity lives and thinks in familial and relational terms: the Trinity is in fact the supreme example of relationship: so the question we must always be asking ourselves is where and how do we intend to play our part? Seems to me that it is difficult to play your part and be as communal as the Trinity if you have next to no neighbors? Seems to me that spending your time at home on the couch for a decade or two doesn’t really count: and neither does stipulating to God where, when, how and if you will respond to His call when you hear it: (bargaining with God about only serving Him in 'such and such' a location is folly): so while recognizing that we all need time out from the grindhouse 31 before we reach burn out: we also need to recognize when our 'time out' is in danger of becoming our permanent modus operandi: when we’ve gone spiritually AWOL for long enough: we no longer recognize His voice: and if we do: we bargain that we will only respond to His calling in places that suit our fancy: maybe where the view is nice? Some mountains would be lovely darling: or, if you're a little more buff: somewhere where there’s a beach to surf: to show off the six pack: to hang ten and catch some rays: stipulating the location of one's service to one's Savior isn't service is it: it's living one's faith as if ordering by menu: it's having the brass balls to respond with clearly defined and stipulated caveats before the throne of grace: and as more and more folks live their faith in this manner: there is a domino principle that takes effect: we all suffer as a result: and we are all suffering right now: who are you going to turn to when there's no-one left to feel your pain? There are urban areas across most western countries that Jesus has a plan for: that plan is love: what if you are part of that plan? have heard His call but are currently in denial mode: because the call doesn't fit your portfolio of requirements. Because you walk in timidity and not in power.

The new testament understanding of an organic church body never considers living life in isolation: as we walk and work out our faith: encouragement: advocacy: empowerment: support: compassion: acceptance: permission: sustaining love and grace are all needed: these characteristics are all must haves: bringing about a ‘me/we’ mindset: for the self cannot be self without other selves: MLK Jr: Jesus releases us: and we in turn help each other: but He ultimately does the releasing: we may well be the vehicle used: in a single conversation that resonates with another human being while waiting to pay for groceries one morning: or we may be used over a longer period of time: in an ongoing dialog with someone for the majority of a lifetime: sometimes we get to see the impact of these conversations first hand: and sometimes we will never know what impact: if any: we had: but if we approached the encounter in love: we will do no harm: loving without caveats is not up for debate: we are to love as unconditionally as Jesus loves us: He must have a reason for it: oh yeah, I remember now: it works.

But for the mutuality to be real: the love to happen: the inescapable network to be a network that you don't want to escape from: you have to do two things: you have to show up: and then you have to love: unconditionally.

For whatever else the church may be known for: exemplifying distinctive radical: self-sacrificial love to those who believe or those who don’t isn’t one of them. Institutionalized orthodoxy has not left folks with the impression that His followers are unique in the way they attempt communicating the unsurpassable worth given by God to each and every individual: we are made in His image/essence: but current orthodox wisdom has a tendency to obscure this actuality and divine reality: the persistence of this institutionalized and generally unquestioned thinking and approach is the fuel enabling the continuance of ignorance: the continuance of sanctimonious dialog and bad communication: the fuel enabling the continuing irrelevant fight over obscure points of dogma and semantics: compared instead to answering the call to love: the largely irrelevant dogmatic obsession with supposed hot button issues: this fuel is the combustible material that helps to continually obscure what is clearly and permanently transparent: God is love: I need help: you need help: for we all need help: ergo: Detroit needs help: for we are indeed caught in an inescapable network of mutuality: for God so loved the whole world: correct? And more importantly: He didn't come to condemn the motor city: or any other city where the tarmac is in meltdown: Jesus walked on water and He walks the 'hood'. He owns it.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them:

Albert Einstein

love with caveats is not love

the refusal to love unconditionally: love with caveats is not love.

Whatever else believers are known for: they are not generally known for their distinctive love: rarely are people drawn to the conclusion that Jesus is Lord simply because of the radical and God-like love they see in action and experience from believers: so we will not position ourselves as judge: but instead: love others as we have been loved: or we would be hypocrites right? And hypocritical behavior smells bad: if God is love: we can’t be hate: or adopt a disinterested posture: or condemn: or pass judgment: yet these attitudes of mind and heart seem to be ever present in professed believers who make zero allowances for other folks shortcomings: while managing the near impossible: seeing the speck in the eye of the person ‘under judgment’ and missing the lumber yard or all lumber yards in their own eye.

So unconditional love is not a feeling one has: or a commitment one makes: but a stance one takes toward another: this love is an activity one does and then becomes: even when the ‘other’ is your enemy rather than your friend: you still choose to live in a purposed forward leaning mindset: offering unconditional love: maybe that’s a hard one to take on board: you may have experienced many loveless acts aimed in your direction: forgiving individuals is hard, but would seem also to be necessary: mastering emotions is difficult, but necessary: don’t let your thoughts and responses about what has been done to you in the past take up bitter root in your life: I know that this is easy to say and very hard to do: but we must all work at letting go of our destructive thought patterns: and become what we were made to become in the first place: and you were made to become the person Jesus had in mind before this world in all it’s rampant beauty and in all it’s rampant ugliness got its hooks in you: beauty is for keeping: ugliness: while too often present: and more often than not wrapped up in a certain smothering type of passive-aggressive 'niceness': is for leaving behind.

Jesus can set you free in His unconditional love: and then you in turn can enable others by passing on your story: we were not made to live doomed lives of quiet desperation: even if it sometimes feels that way: Reach out: He’ll be there: but be serious in the reaching out: in the seeking: in the searching: for this is not a game: it is something far more serious: life

Ghandi saw through the professed christian believers he knew: and he was not impressed: he applauded christian principles: but not christians: over the centuries this dismal orthodox record stands as an embarrassment for all the world to see: it’s time for distinct and rapid change: one in which christian principles: doctrine: arguments of the minutiae of theology and hot button issues take their proper place: at the back: Jesus is pre-eminent: all the ‘stuff’ about Him has it’s place in the dialog: but when the dialog about the ‘stuff’ of faith is in danger of pushing Jesus aside: it’s time to right the ship: it’s about Jesus: not ‘stuff’.

So our goal should be something akin to the following: to rediscover relationship with Jesus & with each other that can return us to a state where we don’t live by our own knowledge of good & evil: for we are not God: but instead live life by participating in the very same love that the Father, Son & spirit have shared throughout eternity: we are participants in the divine: we are participants in His plan to restore & redeem the world one soul at a time: we are participants in His perpetual world revolution: Jesus went far deeper than we fully understand: although there are folks out there in christendom who talk in rather loud and vulgar voices telling you that they have it all nailed down: they don't: Jesus did both covert and overt operations: touching the deep roots of our human dilemma by fulfilling the role of suffering servant & showing us the root of our problem: the refusal to love unconditionally: love with caveats is not love.

Jesus prayed that His disciples would be as one: just as He and His Father are one: loving oneness should be a clear and present reality in an organic body of believers: love that encourages and enables us all to sit: to walk and to stand in His victory already won: reflecting and participating in the loving oneness of the Trinity becomes a very real possibility for all of us who are persuaded that Jesus is able to keep that which we have committed to Him until the final day: our lives: remembering all the while that love with caveats is not love.

Engaging in dialog driven by both a relational and familial culture: underpinned by unconditional love for all begins to encourage all present to take part: the lack of pretence and affectation in the relationships present enable the dialog: that in turn enables growth and a better understanding of oneself and others: it’s OK to get involved: it’s OK to ask: really it is: Jesus teachings were designed to make the listener think: rarely were the parables 'obvious': they required: and still require dialog to draw the teaching: the ideas: and the many layers of thought and application out of them: the more folks tell me they have it all down pat: the more they come across like they have all the answers: the more they act and talk in ridiculously dogmatic terms: seemingly forgetting that the guy who had the ultimate revelation of Jesus: Paul: referred to Him as a mystery: the more one has to approach these folks with caution like one approaches an unexploded bomb: they could go off at any minute : and it will get ugly: don't offer me a carrot and stick approach to love: I won't buy your conditions: the only condition I'll buy is that you offer me none: make it unconditional and we're in business

acknowledgements:

Repenting of religion: Turning from judgment to the love of God: Gregory A Boyd: Baker Books:ISBN: 978-0-8010-6506-4

http://www.amazon.com/Repenting-Religion-Turning-Judgment-Love/dp/0801065062/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263857368&sr=1-1

We love because He first loved us: Steve Zeisler

http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/7493/4441.pdf

The Beatles: Because: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE5f4hVMCew

The Beatles: The end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTUi9l84fRw

Unconditional love: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_love

What God says about unconditional love: David Merck

http://www.vor.org/truth/dwm/uncond.pdf

Tupac Shakur: And I ain't worried bout a damn thang, with unconditional love

http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/tupac-shakur-lyrics/unconditional-love-lyrics.html

The Divine Conspiracy: Dallas Willard

http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Conspiracy-Rediscovering-Hidden-Life/dp/0060693339/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263860645&sr=1-4

grow up: do the dialog thing: be the hope

'You spend your whole life looking for answers: because you think the next answer will change something: maybe make you a little less miserable: and you know that when you run out of questions, you don't just run out of answers: you run out of hope': The character 'Thirteen' in dialog with House: From the House episode: 'You don’t want to know'.

But the thing is: I do want to know and I don't want to run out of hope: So let’s start with some common ground: we all inhabit planet earth: so dialog without the bullhorn: shouting doesn’t aid debate. Let’s get into relationships where the telling of both your story and my story is expected. Being there and listening is the best human being thing you can do for your neighbor. For we do spend our whole life looking for answers; and some of us find them in the person and the mystery of Jesus: and some of us don't: but wherever we are, we never run out of questions and therefore we hope that the next question provides a revelation: and the question after that: a little more revelation: and for those of us who would argue for His existence: these revelations of Jesus need to be seen to have influence in our lives: all talk and no walk doesn't cut it: any idiot can talk, preach or write a book: so for those who claim to know Him, He needs to be clearly seen as an ever present actuality in our lives: we have to practice making less noise via the relentless cacophony of dogma and listen much more: this applies to us all: whether we profess a faith or not: and whatever shade you color your religious beliefs: whether you have painted them black or a whiter shade of pale: or run out of questions (difficult to do): or run out of answers (which are difficult to find: so less likely): make sure you make your modus operandi 'dialog over dogma': before you do indeed run out of hope. For where dialog triumphs over dogma: there is no need to run out of hope.

There is a good case to be made for exploring all ideas relevant to all faiths and any/all of their current concerns: no matter where the ideas and the dialog behind the ideas may lead us: as long as it's dialog over dogma, we can make a start: the very act of engaging in rational discourse presupposes a commitment to evaluating ideas: (sound thinking over sound bite): dialoging with each other and anyone else who cares to take part in a serious attempt to find out exactly what we need to hold onto tightly and what we need throw into the delete bin of life. I would suggest we hold loosely to all the artifacts and traditions of man that have made their way into and then complicated beyond any reasonable measure the act(s) and the mindset(s) of faith: the same thought process needs to apply to the current trendy zeitgeist posturing of no faith: which has slowly become a faith of its own: truly there are oxymorons everywhere: and the 'no faith' lobby spend as much time throwing around dogmas as the 'faith' lobby: dialog, it seems to me, would be better? It is amazing how irrational 'rationalist' who refuse to believe that there is no God can be: it is also thoroughly alarming how folks who proclaim belief in a loving, forgiving redeemer God, are among the most close minded, intolerant and judgmental neighbors you may well ever meet. Ironic kudos here to all concerned on both sides of the faith/no faith debate who fall into these ridiculously entrenched 'fingers in ears while humming a tune' postures: if you aren't listening: you aren't learning: if all you do is repeat your learned opinion ad nauseum to yourself and to all you meet: all you do is convince yourself of what you were already convinced of in the first place: there is no growth in this modus operandi: it is a zero sum game.

So in the best Talmudic tradition of arguing a position as forcefully as possible and then switching sides: believers can prove to a disbelieving world that they are not of a closed mindset via the vehicle of open honest authentic dialog: a willingness to shift the prism of thought to enable such dialog to take place will foster much more discussion on matters of faith: not less: followers of Jesus used to be called followers of ‘the way’: somewhere along the way however human traditions crept back into a simple way and a simple faith and ‘complicated it up’: Paul rightly asked: Who cut in on you? The way is simple and simpler formulations run on swifter legs. Artifact laden, fully entrenched behemoth-liturgy and theology is not swift of thought: or swift of movement or swift of response: if you've ever wanted to offer your service to the local church body, you may have been on the receiving end of this type of dialog: 'Due diligence and proper protocols, procedures and channels require us to form a committee that will eventually form a designated committee of appropriately designated folks (translation: those the pastor wants) that will as some stage in the future: in the fullness of time and at the appropriate juncture: tell you exactly why you can't 'do that thing' you've offered to do, without being excommunicated. The Trinity creates, improvises and plants the desire for us to serve and the ability to vision and then 'roll with it' within our hearts and minds and the church provides as much theological red-tape as possible to 'head it off a the pass': if the early church worked the way the current one does: we wouldn't be here: theological red tape got Paul asking: who cut in on you? Moving swiftly forward into more recent history, we find the appropriately named dark ages: mired in authoritarian Torquemada church mindsets: which could reasonably be renamed the theological red-tape ages: but thank God for Jesus, who will build His church and neither the gates of hell, nor the gates of the church will be able to stand against Him. He loves His bride: in spite of herself. If only the bride were to wake from the petty slumber of inward looking, navel gazing, tit for tat theological debates and the so called 'hot button' issues: and concentrate on the groom: we might all be better off?

Let's shift the thought process a little here: light is made up of many colors: some we see: some we don’t: but to see all the colors we need the aid of a prism: and just as we need to shift the prism to see the colors: we are all in need of a gear change in relationship to our worldviews and accompanying mindsets: we all need to shift the prism of our thought processes: to see what we don’t yet see: to hear what we don’t yet hear: to understand what we don’t yet understand: and to love where, what and whom we don’t yet love. No simple task: but one required of us all surely?

Now unless we've spent the last 1000 years in a cave: we know that corrupt and demagogic legislators, businessmen, pastors, are/will/do increasingly stifle research and debate or legitimate questions that they find inconvenient to their own interests: now while one can expect this of politicians/legislators and corporate leviathans: one should not expect to see this stifling of debate within the life of either local or global church: alas it happens all too often as pastors forget whose kingdom it is that they are co-workers in building: forgetting this: and then covering up that: they talk and act like they own what they have now come to perceive as their particular part of His Kingdom: once this attitude and mindset becomes part of the church furniture: the only way from here is downhill: a slow almost imperceptible death begins: slow: but still a death nonetheless.

Things appear to carry on as normal: but the Spirit 'does an Elvis' and has long since left the building: to be followed out the door by folks who regard the Spirit as vital and not an optional extra. For it is liturgy that is the optional extra: not the Spirit. So now we have too many pastors reliant on the standard three point sermon, the nice overhead projector slides, the requisite smattering of Greek ( which BTW they looked up on Google) who come off the seminary conveyor belt having learned how to teach and then forgot how to learn, or how to remain accountable, or how to shepherd their congregation, or heaven forbid: actually answer their emails: these past-masters of chicanery now adept in telling half truths about circumstances within their local church body: those 'wracked with fear of everything that moves' individuals now thoroughly adept in manipulation and the perpetuation of their web of lies within lies wrapped up as some kind of truth: are the worst of sinners. If they looked in the mirror and walked away: they wouldn't recognize themselves upon return: charlatan, not pastor, is the correct nomenclature.

They are a disgrace to the name Jesus: the title of pastor they wear with the swagger and smell of arrogance: they walk the thinly veiled walk of disdain as they interact with those they have precious little time for: the undesirable multitude who don't fit within their self determined demographic or 'spiritual golf club' agenda that they wish to push at the expense of their current congregation: which would be the people before them that they are actually supposed to serve and if the congregation actually stopped and looked long enough to see the wood for the trees: would have the revelation that they are better off without them. We all are. Those of us who believe and those of us who don't.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant: (Justice Louis Brandeis): for freedom of thought and expression: so open examination is required to determine the merits of any postulate under discussion. Then we’ll be in a better position to dialog with others: or else we let judgment and assumption fester in private: where our very avoidance of certain mindsets serves as tacit acknowledgment that ‘some things that must never come up for discussion’: why? Everyone needs to accommodate the thought that they still have some learning to do: no human is the fount of all wisdom: Jesus is a mystery: so how come so many folks tell you they’ve got Him all nailed down? Since no good can come from sanctifying a delusion: let’s drop this delusion now.

Living the new testament understanding of an organic church body produces symbiotic relationships: a positive-sum gain from co-operation of all those actively involved in its life. As we walk and work out our faith together: encouragement, advocacy, empowerment, support, compassion, acceptance, permission, sustaining grace and self sacrificial love are all must have characteristics: bringing about a 'me we' mindset and culture. For the self cannot be self without other selves. An organic church therefore resembles a living organism in its continuous development of interconnected relationships, culture, mindsets and organizational structure. Lets become the royal priesthood, the holy nation: not a merchandized corporate church. The unsurpassable worth given by Jesus to each and every individual is realized within such an organic body of believers. Where dialog over dogma is the modus operandi: we have the chance to pull off the almost unimaginable: authenticity.

You spend your whole life looking for answers: because you think the next answer will change something: maybe make you a little less miserable: and you know that when you run out of questions, you don't just run out of answers: you run out of hope: dogma is a hopeless thing to cling to: grow up: do the dialog thing: be the hope.

Acknowledgements: TV: House. Book: What's your dangerous idea? My own thought processes.