What To Do

As far as bloggers go, I'm relatively a newcomer to the world. And I mix things up. I think a lot of men probably find my blog frustrating. I don't focus on one thing (theology, or running, or photography). I focus on my life, which is a mix of many things. I homeschool my children, I help plan worship services for my church, I quilt, I fall off virtual cliffs in my mind, I track my extended family, I tentatively track the emerging church, and you will find all of that and more (U2) here. Women can track this, men find it frustrating. Oh well.

I also follow a lot of blogs. I especially follow blogs about the emerging church. I find those very interesting. Well ... I did. But now I find I'm getting frustrated with them as well. I'm getting bored. Because they all seem to be saying the same things over and over again. I don't want to point fingers, because you know what happens then, don't you ... you get three fingers pointing back at ya.

But, lately I've been noticing a lot of complaining about the church. What's wrong. Why won't it change? And on and on. But here's the thing. The so-called Institutional Church really is feeding a lot of people. Or at least they think they are being fed. (Maybe I'm splitting hairs here). But the thing is that they are happy, they sense God and the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. So ... why should we change things for them?

My problem (and it is my problem) is that God and the Holy Spirit does not work in my life like that. So I need to find something different. That doesn't mean that I need to change the entire institution of the church universal. I don't think the entire church needs to change for about 10% of the population who are not being fed. That 10% can find another way of working things out. I think God is big enough to work things out for and with us.

The problem here is not spiritual, it's cultural. We (in the West, and particularly the US) as a result of the Industrial Revolution have been weaned on this idea that uniformity of function will produce more perfect results. We are now 4 or 5 generations into this. Our schools raise our children with this idea. Our factories and our offices stress this idea. Our suburbs and our farms all look alike. Just think about it, when was the last time you ate at a truly independent restaurant? And the time before that? We want to be able to go anywhere and find things that look, taste, smell and sound just like home. Including church.

But ....

There are some of us who are not like this. There are some of us who see life differently. We see God and His Kingdom differently. This is important. God needs all of us in order to unleash the fullness of His grace. It's not limited to just the institutional church, or just the emerging church. It's going to take all of us. And it's even going to take some people who haven't made themselves known yet. But we need to stop poking at our differences and stop talking about why we're different or how we're different. And just take a look around at the work that God is doing in the world and see where we can get on board with it. Where can we, in our individual communities, join up with our Creator in unleashing grace in our communities. How can we (no matter our church affiliation) bring His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven ...

(HT - Scot McKnight and Brother Maynard)