It seems to me that until we move beyond the
current theological and ecclesiological reactivity so present in today’s
church (particuarly in the blogsphere), we will not be able to rise up into the cataclysmic need that is before
us as the people of God. It is
incredibly easy to do deconstruction and to cast aspersions on what is
currently going on in the church – it’s current structures and models. This currently occupies, in my opinion,
way too much of the center of what is being communicated. There are some who communicate in
forward like, “This is what the grand Kingdom is,” or “We can grow in our
ability to follow Jesus by…” But,
there are also those that constantly communicate stuff like, “The church is
disappearing from the landscape of western culture,” or “The church has failed
in its______________ (fill in the blank).” Duh! Come on,
how many time do we have to describe how bad things are in the west. Really! How many times do we have to do this? If I hear someone trying to sell
something by telling me how "shitty" the church's situation is again I’m gonna…I’m
gonna pull out my hair (which is no easy task in my case).
Why not put your “writing car” in forward for
a day or so and attempt to describe what God is doing that’s “God like!” Here’s where it might get tough though…do
it without promoting your stuff or your tribe (I know, contrary to all the platform building advice out there).
Here’s even a scripture verse for those that
need one. It comes from Paul’s
letter to the church in Philippi.
He writes;
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think
about such things.”
See, it’s ok to speak the other direction. It's in the Bible. Try it. It might even feel good.
Out.
r
