the drum|rob fairbanks

Alternative Politic

If you say you are a Christian, it is not an option – you must begin with theology (who is God, who am I before Him and what does He desire), rather than nationalism or partisanship (what is best for our country or the party I belong to) in discerning how to engage culture. While the latter is important, we must be the best of citizens; it MUST be subjugated to the will and ethic of the Kingdom. The most frightening thing for me is not our new President, or Russia or Islam or Fake News, or some other external influence, though each carry with them a reason for consternation. The thing that frightens me most is the famine of “believers” who recognize the collision of Kingdoms that is taking place around them.

This is unquestionably an indictment on the church for its lack of spiritual formation (a topic for another day).

If you begin with the latter, whether you know it or not, you portray a co-opted version of Christianity that is underdeveloped at best and repelling at worse to those who are sincerely seeking the real thing. #alternativepolitic #kingdomfirst

Book Review: Kingdom Conspiracy by Scot McKnight

Do you wear skinny jeans or pleated pants?

Kind of a funny question, but those are the metaphors theologian Scot McKnight uses to describe two prevailing and popular views of the Kingdom of God in his book, Kingdom Conspiracy. The first view, skinny jeans, predictably represents a more current approach that frontloads public sector social justice activism, while often times bypassing the church. He writes, “Kingdom means good deeds done by good people (Christian or not) in the public sector for the common good.” (p.4) The second picture is, again predictably, a perspective that is more represented in “traditional” Christianity. He describes this group’s view by saying, “…the Kingdom is both present and future, and the kingdom is both a rule and reign.” (p. 9)

McKnight is not content with either of these views. The thrust of the book juxtaposes these two with, from McKnight’s viewpoint, a more robust theological and holistically biblical approach.

A key element for the book is re-setting a view about the Kingdom from a redemption/salvation aspect to its natural Old Testament view of a “nation” and “Israel.” He writes, “Thus, kingdom is front and center about a people and cannot be limited either to social ethic or a redemptive moment.” (p.205) He contends that a proper view has five elements: a king, a rule of a king, a people the king rules, a law by which the king reveals how to live as one of his people, and a land in which the king rules. McKnight doesn’t give up the “already/not yet” aspect of the Kingdom which captures the best of both perspectives.

Where he arrives and what I think is the strength of the book is connecting this view of the Kingdom to church. There truly has been a shift of perspective related to the church. For many there is the feeling of, Kingdom yes! The church, boo!!! So, the upshot of this is many simply by-passing the church with the idea that if what really matters is the Kingdom, then God really won’t mind if I just do Kingdom stuff and stay away from the church. I mean, come on! They are an embarrassing lot. McKnight will have none of this. And this is where he “lays the lumber” and probably shocks not just a few by saying unapologetically (ready?), “With one sentence, now, I pull the rope taut: there is no kingdom now outside of the church.” (p. 87) WHAT? I could feel my muscles tighten and my theological sensibilities contract as I slowly read. Even though I am a churchman….even though I have given my entire life to leading the church, the statement caught me off guard. I thought to myself, “Really? Did he really mean to write that?” I must admit I made the sound “hmmm!” (or maybe it was “hmmm?”) numerous times while thinking about it. He clarifies that the idea of kingdom in Jesus’ world always meant “…a people governed by a king.” (p. 66) Now, this is at the very heart of the book's effort to reunite Kingdom and Church. He writes, “…If kingdom is a people and the church is a people, then it follows that the church are the kingdom people. The church, then, is what is present and peopled in the realization of the kingdom now.” (p. 87) In other words, if you assert that there is a King there must be a Kingdom, and if there is a Kingdom there must be a people. If that is agreed upon, the question has to be asked regarding the New Testament: who are the people of the King? I suppose there might be some astute interpretive device to wiggle out of that syllogism, but even with a natural reading of the New Testament, the people of the King is the church. Citing Bonhoeffer, it is written: “The church according to Paul’s understanding presents no essential difference from Jesus’ ideas [about the kingdom].” (p. 94) If that is agreed upon, which I do for the most part, McKnight’s assertion that there is an undeniable link formed between Kingdom and the Church cannot be dodged or avoided.

Thinking that would be enough to swallow for one book, McKnight takes it one step further wrapping in the sub-title of the book (Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church), by saying, “At the very heart of kingdom mission are kingdom people, the church of King Jesus. In one short expression, then, kingdom mission is first and foremost church mission.” (p.95) He spends an entire chapter laying out what the mission would look like which draws in both redemptive activity and social engagement. It includes evangelism, worship, catechesis, fellowship, edification, discipleship, and through the utilization of spiritual gifts. Sounding very Wrightian, McKnight recaps his viewpoint: “I want now to sum up what kingdom mission is: kingdom mission flows from the kingdom story, and that story focuses on God at work in history as God brings that history to its focal point in Jesus as King. That kingdom story, then, focuses on God as King through King Jesus…kingdom mission forms a kingdom people and that kingdom people in the present world is the church. This means kingdom mission is all about forming and enhancing local churches as expressions of the kingdom of God in the world.” (p.123) A person might potentially disagree with how McKnight arrives at his conclusion, but there is no denying the strength and resolution of his conviction.

Take Aways:

• First, know that I did not read this book alone. I read it with two different groups of “skinny jeans” folk (none of them, by the way, appreciated the caricature). One was a group of undergrad theology majors from the university I teach at and the other was a group of mid-twenties theology studies graduates who attend the church I pastor. 
• Secondly, let me say that I really like Scot McKnight. As a matter of fact, I believe he is one of the truly helpful theologians that I have read.  His books on the Gospel (King Jesus Gospel) and the Atonement (A Community Called Atonement) I felt were spot on and timely works. That said, to a person, everyone I read with felt that McKnight could’ve stayed true to his objective and shortened the book. Each felt like it could’ve been just as powerful as a shorter read.
• Lastly, I felt like Scot did an admirable job pushing people to “deal with” the church. As already stated, as a pastor, I have seen a steady flow of people with an atrophied ecclesiology simply go it outside of the church thinking they are standing on solid theological footing. McKnight boldly dispels this idea. He may have overreached with some of his language of kingdom and church correspondence, but the need to recapture the linkage is both commendable and very much needed.

McKnight closes his book by saying, still absolutely unflinching, “The only place kingdom work is and can be done is in and through the local church when disciples (kingdom citizens, church people) are doing kingdom mission,” and I might add, whether you wear skinny jeans or pleated pants! (p. 208)

Learn more. http://www.kingdomconspiracy.com/

r 

The Reconciliation of All Things

"The Church is not to be defined by what it is,

but by that End to which it moves."

Lesslie Newbigin

What will the end times be like? Not the tribulation, scary stuff, frightenly described in Revelation…or the “Left Behind” series. A bloody moon, catastrophic wars, demons thrown into lakes of fire…not that part, but afterwards when God makes all things right. It says that there will be a new heaven and new earth and all that is broken will be righted, that which is out of joint with creation will be healed.

Fortunately, we get a few glimpses. For example, in Revelation 21 we find these words:

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bridebeautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain,for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵ He who was seated on the thronesaid, “I am making everything new!”

In the next chapter, John the Revelator says, “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

It requires what I call Kingdom imagination. With a bit of intentionality we (most people) can summon a picture of ultimate human flourishing. The Bible calls that "shalom" and it is at the core of reconciliation. Paul says that in Christ we are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.

The problem though is where we are and what that picture is seems like a million miles away. The way Scot McKnight would put it is the beautiful image that God wonderfully created is cracked, subsequently, there is estrangement with God, ourselves, others and ultimately creation itself.

I believe that the mission for every Christian, every community, is to recognize and humbly acknowledge the brokenness of our world, but not be satisfied there. We must live into the future reality that is to come. We pray that direction every time we recite the Lords Prayer, “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What is it we are praying? We are praying the ultimate flourishing that exists in heaven into our realities?

We recognize our quest whenever we see things out of joint. Poverty? Can we imagine poverty existing in the New Heaven and New Earth? Absolutely not! Inequality between men and women? Between different nationalities or races? Will that exist when all is righted? Certainly not! An injured planet? No, it will be healed or, as Paul says, “redeemed!” Do you see how it plays out? Anywhere we see a discontinuity or misalignment between where we are and what will be illuminates elements of our mission. Ultimately, that includes estrangement with God. In sum, the Bible describes this as a picture of reconciliation.

This fall, at Immanuel Church will embark on a journey grappling with how we can be a community that lives out our life attempting to fulfill the Apostle Paul’s words,

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christand gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

Below are the dates and speakers for the series. As a pastor for 30 years now, I am fully aware of the shelf life of sermons (they are usually forgotten before lunch is over), but I truly believe that this has a greater potential for impact then any other series I've been a part of.

This Sunday, Immanuel Church has two services - 9 and 11 am, and we meet at The Bartlett (228 W Sprague Ave), in downtown Spokane. Why don't you join us!

Prodigal Christianity: 10 Signposts into the Missional Frontier

Over the last couple of months I’ve had the privilege of reading the book “Prodigal Christianity” with a group of my friends here in Spokane. All of them are good thinkers and we had a wonderful time processing the ideas by Dave Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw. 

The book is really an attempt to locate a way forward that is truly prodigal in today's Christianity, a third way if you will. A writing device the authors employed is a cyclical juxtaposition between a Neo-Reform perspective of Christianity (Piper, Keller, et al) and a more “Emergent” version (McLaren and Jones). Honestly, a device I am not entirely thrilled with and I would suspect the authors represented in the book probably were not wild about either. Nonetheless, while looking at both of these poled perspectives they seek to mine out an alternative way for the church to move forward in the undulating social challenges of Western society.

The authors capably lay out a progression of ideas tethered to the idea of Barth’s “Far Country.” They move from a theological orientation or baseline to the more practical issues such as homosexuality and social justice (both chapters are probably worth the price of the book), both I deeply appreciated. They refer to “Signposts” that assist us to navigate both the church and “powder keg” issues we currently face as Christians in the U.S.

As far as full disclosure, I must say that I've appreciated Dave Fitch’s ideas before I read this book (The Great Giveaway) and am a causal acquaintance of both authors. I have great appreciation and admiration for both of them. You can locate both men’s personal blogs at…Fitch - Reclaiming Mission & Holsclaw - Into the Far Country

One of the key elements of the book for me was the nuanced challenge to be present in every situation trusting God is there before us, an idea often called prevenience. I honestly think if each Christian person I know could embrace the idea that they are expounding it would change Christianity. I know that sounds like a stretch, but I truly beleive it. In Signpost #2, the missio Dei, Fitch vulnerably writes about learning how to pray for his neighbors;

"I had in mind that this meant to pray for my friends to somehow see their need for God's forgiveness and that I would have an opportunity to give them the answer: the gospel of being forgiven from sin. The friend challenging me said, 'No, God is already working there, in each person's life. Just pray that you will have eyes to see what God is doing so you can participate with a word, or a prayer, with laughter, or a tear.'  If the Triune God is already in mission, then I need to see the world in which I regularly walk as the arenas of the Spirit – places imbued with the presence of God. This was a fundamental shift. It changed the way I walked into every space of my life. Missio Dei means that God is already at work in our lives and the lives of all around us."

The other bit that I found quite significant about the book is the author's insistence that these issues that all of us face must be worked out in a local context, the local church. All of the jockeying for influence on the net or in celebrity Christianity is doing nothing more than exacerbating the problems that we have. These issues must be worked out with real people, in real time, in a real location. I could not concur more.

In summary, I would recommend this book with great enthusiasm to anyone trying to navigate the nuances of what it means to live life on mission in a postmodern context. Both Fitch and Holsclaw have grasped the idea that being a Christian today isn't about reactivity or in finding yourself in some sort of theological entrenchment, but in moving  into the “far country,” being prodigal in a nonreactive, loving, open…local way.

r

What Motivates Your Life to Do Good?

“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I looked up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.” Psalm 63:3 

Yesterday, I wrote about the amazing gesture of adoration the woman in John 12 gave to Jesus by pouring a bottle of pure nard, an entire years wages worth, onto His feet. The follow-up question that must be broached is what would bring about such an extravagant gesture? What drove her to such an act?

The only thing I can think of is that it is in response to an even greater love. She somehow received a love from Christ that was as profound or even greater. That is similar to what the Psalmist says in the above passage. He says that his praise (or activism) was in direct response to a love that is better than life itself!

For the Christian, this love is most beautifully and tragically demonstrated in the crucifixion of Jesus. A group of us are reading a series of weighty theological books right now - the current one being Hans Urs von Balthasar’s, Mysterium Paschale.  I feel smarter just typing that out (and my Word spell-checker is just freak’in out)!?!? 

Anyway, Balthasar writes,

“The cross is…the event towards which the history of his (Jesus’) life is oriented and through which it's other episodes receive their meaning. The cross is the midpoint of saving history, all the promises are realized in it, every aspect of the Law, with its quality as curse, is dashed to pieces on the Cross.” (p.17)

In other words, what Christ did on the Cross changes everything. Personally, it certainly did and continues to for me. The trajectory of my life has been permanently altered as a result of the forgiveness, that for me was only discovered and received in Jesus.

Although, the Biblical location of the story of Martha and Mary is certainly found pre-crucifixion, the reality of forgiveness is firmly fixed within the Gospel account. In a similar story involving a different woman but the same type of gesture, Jesus tethers the motivation of her extravagant love to this idea of forgiveness. He says to his guest, “I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47)

My concern is that many people today who are involved in the Missional conversation are not living into such a responsive life.  As the Apostle John put it, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 4:10) Our activism is always a 2^nd movement. They are surely motivated to do good, to care for others and to act forcefully for justice in the world (all critical Kingdom activities), but are missing the important centered concept of Christ’s all loving act of dying on a cross for the forgiveness of their sins. His death obviously carries with it more meaning than forgiveness, but it certainly doesn’t carry less. For me, living outward toward the world with compassion is inseparablely connected to my experience of forgiveness of my sins.

“Because your love is better than life…

I serve those who have little or nothing, I contour my life so that it coincides with your Kingdom, I sacrifice in small and large way, and I will give all, even a year’s wages!

r

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

Thankful

Today as I sit in my house in Portland, sipping coffee, and listening to the sweet sound of rain fall on the ground outside, I am thrust into waves of peace. I am reflecting on a month of learning, laughter, increased friendship, sorrow, and deep joy. The past three weeks I got to spend listening to amazing classmates (who I now consider friends) discuss and grow in what it means to be the church. I again learned that there is no perfect church, mostly because there is no perfect person. And in my most vulnerable moments, I have to remind myself that the church is people. Beautiful, broken, alive, and challenging people. 

We read the Gospel and understand maybe a tenth of what Jesus was trying to teach and model to us. Reading through Mark 10 and 11 a few minutes ago, I am in awe of how little I seek the Kingdom of God and instead seek the opinion of the world. How often do I stop and listen? How little do I remind myself that joy is a gift and a choice? How terrible am I at thinking of myself as a little child, hopeful that God redeems and saves? How often do I care more for my possessions than I do for my present relationship with God? 

All of these questions I examined this past term and found that there is no greater answer than the person of Christ. And for me, that begins by being thankful and being disciplined enough to listen wholeheartedly to God. So today, I don’t have any huge theological answers to how the church should function better, serve God more, or be wholly united. But I am able to live into the posture of being thankful. Thankful for a class who tested me, encouraged me, and put up with me. Thankful for a Creator who is infinitely more able and loving than I. 

Thankful.

Katherine

The Church: A Banquet for Your Friends or a Refuge for the Poor?

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)

             The great eighteenth-century hymn writer and ex-slave trader John Newton marveled at the far-reaching impact of these words spoken by Jesus in Luke. “One would almost think this passage was not considered part of God’s word, nor has any part of Jesus’ teaching been more neglected by his own people. I do not think it is unlawful to entertain our friends” he says, “but if these words do not teach us that it is in some respects out duty to give preference to the poor, I am at a loss to understand them.” Looking at the current state of the American church, one can’t help but wonder if the “luncheon or dinner” Jesus was referring to could be what we call our church service today. We spend so much time catering our churches to our friends, brothers, sisters, relatives and neighbors, that we completely disregard those Jesus is calling to invite join us in our “banquet.”

            It’s not that Jesus commands us, his Church, to disregard those who we consider being friends, peers or of high economic status, for Jesus himself often ate with his peers and people of wealth. However, his mission was still for the poor. Jesus commanded that his disciples should share their homes and build relationships not with people of their class or higher, people they could profit from or that would pay them back, but with people who were poor and without influence. I believe he is calling his church to do the same; to be for the poor, with the poor, and in pursuit of the poor.

            Although I am unaware of any churches that actively turn the poor away, I am also unaware of many that actively seek out those in extreme poverty as being a part of their community. Most church facilities and services seem to be catered more to the middle-class who drive in from their different neighborhoods to come together with like-minded, similar looking people of their social class for once, maybe twice a week, fellowship and teaching. Although I’m sure many of these churches do really wonderful things to help the underserved and poor, it’s not as easy to make the case that they are designed “for the poor.” The Bible speaks of God as being “a refuge for the poor” (Isaiah 25:4; Psalm 14:6). Therefore the Church, as the body of Christ, is called to stand with the poor as a physical and spiritual place of refuge for them in this world. Is your church a banquet for your friends or a refuge for the poor?

Melissa

Eucharistic Mess

Jessica

Not Doing What the World Says I Should

    I’m not sure how to handle forgiveness. The culture tells me I’m entitled to my grudges, my animosity, my lifelong hate against someone who wronged me. My friends tell me that I shouldn’t allow that one person back into my life—much less forgive them. That it’s idiotic for us to be close friends after the devastating breakup. That the walls I build are justified.  

    Christ and his kingdom step in and call me quite clearly, against the expectations of the world, to tell an alternate story. To forgive seventy times seven, yes, but also to be perfect as my Father is perfect. And yes, that’s great, and yes, I tell myself that I have forgiven and so fulfilled the letter of the law but I still hold a seed of hatred in my heart. I beg off forgiving completely, because they hurt me, they used me, whatever the situation may be, I’m completely and undeniably justified.

    And recently, all that’s been thrown back in my face. Because the letter of the law is there, but no spirit, no heart. This was never and should never have been about me. Rob said in class that forgiveness is the most important tool we have to give people a foretaste of the kingdom, and I’ve been focusing much too hard on myself and my hurt to realize that I should be extending an open hand, declaring boldly that

the kingdom of God is near. No reservations or qualifications. No second guessing. This is about as countercultural as I have ever been. It is everything the world is telling me not to do.

But that is exactly what Christ is calling me to do.

I forgive you. The kingdom of God is at hand.  

Anna