the drum|rob fairbanks

Slandering the world & the Christian name

    When introducing yourself as a Christian you may sometimes be greeted in a strange manner. Some people assume that being Christian also means you are an extremist. This is because some of the only interactions they may have had with a “Christian” is someone yelling about God's wrath, or picketing on a street corner. They think we all abide to some strict controlling cultist style life. However we know this to be false. We must do our best to correct this misled view of our collective group of believers. Religious extremists, cultists, and hate mongering groups are destroying the good name of Christ, by standing behind it while they speak nothing of the love and grace of God.

    One such group would be the Westboro Baptist Church, who interestingly enough has no association with the Baptist Church, nor should it even be considered a church. This particular gathering of beings is completely misled by their leader, and believe themselves to be spreading the word of God. This word however, is that God hates pretty much everyone, that he is destroying and will continue to destroy the world and everyone who does not agree with him. The list of people the WBC claims God hates consists of: Homosexuals, Transsexuals, Military, Muslims, Obama, Police, Government, Immigrants, and many more.

    While we would all very much enjoy to shut this group up permanently, our response to them must not be one of equal disprovable as they preach. That would be fueling their fire, as much as it pains me to say, we must react to them in a loving nature, kill them with kindness, in order to prove them wrong. 

Joshua

Hugging Jesus

    I had a dream when I was child that I will never forget. I was walking on lush, green grass when upon looking up there stretched a perfect, blue expanse of sky like I had never seen before.  Then I saw a man walking towards me, I knew it was Jesus.  At this point I got pretty excited, understandably!  I started running as fast as I could to reach Him, and He started running towards me.  He knelt down to me and said a simple “I love you very much” and then He hugged me.  I don’t remember His face, only His eyes.  They were dark and beautiful, telling of everything He is-Savior, healer, lover of our souls, funny, strong, man, God, King, the list goes on and on and on.  When I looked in His eyes I felt stronger and taller but at the same time a complete vulnerability, that my heart was wide open.  What surprises me about this, looking back years later, is that it was not kindness in Jesus’s eyes that I saw.  Instead, I stared back at a fierce, passionate love that so far extends the kindness which we have been conditioned to expect from our white, blue eye, brown hair-with-a middle part Jesus.  What a one dimensional view of His personality!  I woke up stunned and incredibly loved, feeling an unexplainable peace and joy.

    This world does not need any more of these scenarios depicting either a “white, middle-class, nice Jesus” or a “white, middle-class, unforgiving Jesus.”  What is needed is the “wild terrifying, fascinating, dangerous, Middle-Eastern Jesus” (Michael Frost).  Why would I expect a tame, predictable Savior, or one who is “safe?...Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” (C.S. Lewis)   I am tired of trying to be ‘safe’ in the way I do church and life for that matter.  I want to be all in, to be a part of this awesome Body of Christ, to love the Church, to kill the institution, to dream. To love furiously, with a reckless abandon without a thought of self-preservation.  To be about the Church, we must first be about Jesus and who He truly is, allowing Him in to compel us and change us so that we can further the Kingdom in awesome and radical ways.

Jamie

Where does your allegiance lie?

    Why do we have different church denominations? I mean, I understand how they came into existence and the reasons behind it, but why?

    I think that having different church styles is extremely important because it can be hard to meet the vast variety of needs amongst us as individuals. We are strengthened when we come together with our differences. However, saying that, I think the church has been splintered rather than strengthened by its denominations. Instead of drawing closer together under one banner, Christ Jesus, we've separated off into factions, each claiming its own ways and rights. If we follow Christ, and are His, why do we claim alegiance to any other spiritual background? Why do we place our identity in anything other than Him?

    We are ultimately not Lutherans, nor Baptists, nor Presbyterians, nor any other denomination and we are not Non-denominational (which has become a denomination of sorts in its own right).

    What kind of a witness are we? One to a fractured church? If you have placed your faith and trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ then you have been adopted into the family of God. You are His. And as His body, you are called to be unified. As a follower of Christ Jesus, a son of the King, and a brother in the family of God, I'm done being defined by what denomination I do or don't belong to. I am His, and that's where I choose to stand. It's enough.

Zach

I Don't Want to Hate the Church

      I venture to say, based on observations as far as I am able to see, more people are calling themselves Christians while more Christians are denying the title for all its negative connotations. Have you heard anyone claim their faith as “believer” or “follower of Christ” or “Jesus lover”? That’s dandy, and true. But the term “Christian” has been taken away from us, much as the symbol of the rainbow has. As a young person learning that I am in the midst of much needed revelation and change for “the church,” I fear the negativity toward the church. I fear for non-believers because it will keep them away, and for believers because of unforgiveness and bitterness toward those who have been getting it wrong. I fear the anger I’ve seen. I fear more splitting, more division dangerously close at hand within the whole Christian body. I pray it doesn’t happen that leaders who are making right changes due to convictions about how the church has been failing begin to find new titles. I don’t want to see a new movement rise up again only to lose itself in its mission once more. I want to see the church be taken back; for the term Christian to be taken back.  To bring them back to mean the body of Christ and Christ-like. The only way to know those meanings is through Christ himself and we find him in the Word, our Bibles, and in prayer. I think this means we must look at the broken church with a heart of forgiveness. Jesus saw the broken and flawed and he forgave them, then said, “now sin no more.” Forgiveness and correction. Jesus was, is, for the church, his bride, so I want to be, too. Jesus’ heart probably breaks for her, I want mine to, too. Let us lift the church back up to what it should be, not break it down.

   “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had… they worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” Acts 2.44, 46-47

-Ashley

"We Need to Kill the Church"

    
“We need to kill the Church.”  As a lingering skeleton of good intentions, the Church has become ineffective at relaying the only knowledge that truly matters in this world—telling all who Jesus truly is.  When I say, “We need to kill the church,” I am speaking about the institutionalized Church of our current day which caters to societal trends, fashions, and the myriad of other “things” that draw people in to church each week.  However, something is lost when we glitz and glam up our churches to fit the marketplace.  That same “something” is also lost when we stand, stiffly and uncomfortably, waiting for praise and worship to end, so we can finally sit down and mindlessly listen (or daydream) while the pastor, priest, or whoever stands on stage for forty minutes talking about how Jesus died for our sins.  The same “something” is even lost in services where enthusiastic worshippers get that “tingly feeling” during a “really good song” or those chills when the pastor brings a sermon home.  These “somethings” are self-edifying, but sadly, they stay within the walls of the church building never to see the light of day.   What is lost?  Jesus.  This man who was born as the lowest of low, who knew ultimate joy, and suffered an unimaginably brutal death is lost.  There is no raw, real Jesus in our institutionalized church today; we have fashioned Him to be either a condoning sweetheart (so we can feel good about ourselves and our actions) or a hardnosed, fire and brimstone bringer of wrath and judgment (so we can look down our noses at homosexuals, druggies, and all the “true” sinners of the world).  So, let us, as the Body and Bride of Christ, choose to shut this “Church” down.  This “Church” that is more a business seeking consumers than a delightful extension of our missional God. 

    This is not to say there are no churches doing it right; that would be absurd!  Of course there are churches, many, who seek after Jesus with everything in their being.  Unfortunately, our society (even Christians) send these churches into exile and deem them crazy radicals. Salvation and eternal life are radical concepts; shouldn’t we believe so passionately to the point of fearlessly seeking God’s holistic view, and not just pieces of it?  We understand the world does not know us because our identity is in Heaven, so let’s not become offended when people disagree with us for making waves.  As long as our actions are biblical and in accordance with God’s character and will, we are surely a force to be reckoned with!  Through community, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and the ability to imagine in radical ways, we can collectively step into our role as the true Body of Christ, how the Church was intended to be. Arise, Church, as the hands and the feet and the ears and the eyes of Christ to kill this institutional “Church” and bring Jesus to the center where He belongs.  In this way, we, as the body of Christ, and the whole world will be forever changed.

Jamie

Joyfully Removed

    The Western church is no longer center stage in modern culture, and as we are shunted aside it seems reasonable to think that becoming more like the world will entice more people into our buildings. Then I come upon Jesus’ words, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Hold up, what?! Blessed are who? It might be a small stretch to equate marginalization and persecution, but I am beginning to think that being pushed out of mainstream culture could be the best thing that has happened to the body of Christ today.

    In his book The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch points to the church in two different times and geographic areas, the early Christian body and the underground church in China. Both of these groups of believers became vibrant and large communities during harsh and unrelenting periods of persecution. Hirsch sees that “Persecution drove both the early Christian movement and the Chinese church to discover their truest nature as an apostolic people” and it “acted as a means to keep these movements true to their faith and reliant on God.”

    But how did these communities turn persecution to power to promote the Kingdom of God? James calls out from the Word, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Think about that for a minute. This isn’t telling us to tolerate trouble or to “grin and bear it”, but instead be joyful in it—have a deep, indescribable emotion welling up in us whenever we face trials because of faith in the Lord Jesus. What if, instead of pushing back as we are pushed aside or fearing persecution for our faith, the Western church opened ourselves to the possibility of being collectively JOYFUL? How much more would we be able to point the way to the Kingdom of God if our joy in all situations shone through? Something attracted millions of converts in the early and Chinese churches. Maybe this joy in persecution promised to us by our living Savior can be the way we truly live into our calling as a missional and sent church. Maybe this strange joy from hardship can revitalize us and help us be the instrument and foretaste of the Kingdom we were meant to be for the world.

Kate

5 People I Want to Meet In Heaven

Ok, I know that heaven is a debated topic – eternal “floaty” place or New Creation or blah, blah, blah.  This post really isn’t about the theological place, but more of longing and musing. I was simply thinking about Christian people I have respected from history I would love to meet, to have a coffee or pint with and chat. 

Ok, here is my list (drum roll please):

1)    C.S. Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963)

Special Question for Clive: How did you like how Anthony Hopkins portrayed you in Shadowlands?  Seriously, I have a hard time thinking of Lewis now without connecting him to Hopkins. Weird, huh?

2)    Martin Luther King (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

Special Question: Did you realize the colossal proportion of what was going on around you, or was it just; I am doing the next thing I can do?

3)    Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – 5 September 5, 1997)

Special Question: What sustained you when you recognized that even though you were helping scores of incredibly needy people, you were barely denting the need?

4)    Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945)

Special Question for DB: How did you coalesce the needed courage to act in the middle of one of the greatest tragedies in human history?

5)    Author of the “So Called Letter to Diognetus” (2^nd Century)

Special Question for our mystery guest:  Who are you? Many presumed that the person who penned this letter was Justin Martyr, but…anyway. Here is a short excerpt from the letter. Take a read - you'll love it!

Honorable mentions (any of these could've easily made it into the top five): Lessile Newbigin, William Wilberforce, Soren Kierkegaard, David Bosch, Jim Elliot, Karl Barth, Athanasius, Aelred of Rievaulx, and Francis of Assisi.

I know, history often portrays folks in a certain light and in reality, each of these people might not be the most enjoyable to hang out with (probably because of their intensity), but it’s just for fun.  Questions I wonder about would be like, did they like sports, did they ever struggle with depression, how did they experience God, did they struggle with cynicism…stuff like that.

Who would you like to chat with from the past? 

What would you want to ask them?

A Fine Day in Dublin

I had a wonderful time in Dublin today. Kevin Johnson and myself were on our feet most of the day going from one place to another.  I am quite exhausted, but thrilled by the experience.  Here’s where we went and what we did.

We first made our way down to the city center and along Grafton Street to St. Stephen's Green – a lovely park. We hung out along Grafton Street for some time talking and for me, reminiscing of a trip I took some 15 years ago with Robi.   That time we toured with a group of high school all-star basketball players. This time was more focused. It was a fantastic time of chatting and dreaming about Christian Associates.

 From there we headed over to Trinity University where we got a chance to actually see the Book of Kells along with several other ancient early Christian documents. It was a fabulous time. The intricacies and the labor of work that went into these ancient “illuminated” writings were profound. It is estimated that the Book of Kells was written around 800 by Celtic monks.

We then made our way to a traditional Irish pub to have lunch with the missions pastor from Crossroads Raleigh, Doug Gamble and his wife Kathy. It was an amazing time talking about our mutual history with Christian Associates and dreaming about what might happen in the future as we seek to do mission in Europe together. With them we went over to see Christ Church.
  It is a beautiful old church building dated around sometime after 1023. I seem to never grow weary of looking at the architecture of old buildings. What is it about old things? They enchant me.  The time inspired me because I love learning about the history of the Christian church, yet discouraged me because at one time faith in Christ was much more deeply held in this land.

One of the things that both Kevin and I wanted to accomplish in Dublin was to visit the Peterson pipe store. It is a semi-famous pipe company (actually, I am not really sure if they are famous – some of the CA folk rave about them though).  Both of us splurged and bought lovely pipes. Afterwards, we found some chairs along the Liffey River and enjoyed a bowl.

We also got a chance to have dinner at another typical Irish pub where I had 
 the traditional Bangers and Mash (I was a bit leery of ordering it because I had tried Blood pudding for breakfast and my taste buds went into all-out insurgency). The “Sausage” and “Mashed potato’s” weren’t on my diet, but I couldn’t resist. I am a weak man!  The order was not a disappointment. We enjoyed the company of Eva and Chris. They’re a delightful young couple who were both bright and encouraging to us as we talked about life and faith in Jesus.

It was a truly full day and I got to see almost everything I wanted to see in Dublin. The only other thing was the Guinness factory. I hear that it’s a place that everyone should see when they come to Dublin.

Off to Belfast tomorrow. A place I’ve never been before. It should be exciting!