The Christian Imagination

It’s 2010, and I’m thinking about what to write about this year. I received a comment on one of my posts suggesting I elaborate more on the topic. Most of my posts are not intended to be comprehensive. Part of the challenge of writing for an Internet audience is understanding what people are looking for. A long article may take too much time for many to read. A short post may not have enough substance. Elaborating more on topics like postmodernism, modernism, high & low culture, and such would be a good idea, considering that people are searching for info on them.

Writing on one’s own blog is the easy route in so many ways. Deadlines and topics are self-imposed. When busy, it’s easy for it to take a back seat. When I do write, it’s easier to write a short post than a long one, as it takes less time. I have a list of possible posts, and most of them will take some thought to write. I’d like to point out what Christians are doing that is encouraging and making a difference for Christ. I have some resources to draw from, but even that takes time. There are other topics I could write about, and perhaps some I haven’t though of. I’d welcome any feedback you have. I’ve also pondered writing a few articles and submitting them to other publications. We’ll see what the year brings.

I’m going to be writing about what we’ve been doing at our church, and specifically about some of what I’ve been involved in as we learn to serve one another and be in community.

Shalom.

You probably know that I am a Tolkien fan. I’m using a Hobbit banner, and one of my popular posts is about Tolkien’s view of evil. When I was in New Zealand during the “Return of the King” world premiere, the church I was attending, who was along the parade route, decided to put up a big sign that said, “The Return of the King of Kings. Every Sunday at 10am” or whatever their service time was. At the time, I found it anticlimactic, as I was more excited about Tolkien’s Return of the King story.

How is it that the grand narrative in the Bible so often seems unexciting? Is heaven just too far off? Do we reduce it to the point where it is just a book of methods? Maybe we don’t talk about it enough.

It is easy to get discouraged in today’s world. We hear of suffering and evil daily. We see people with power abuse it.

Not long ago, I found a post called Return of the King. Tony Reinke talks about Jesus, the King of Kings, using a lot of Biblical language. It stirred by heart, and excited me about the Return of the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Justice will be served. Mankind’s delusions of power will be brought down. The lion will not be tame.

Thanks Tony, for the reminder.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
2 Corinthians 5:17

It’s a new year, and a new decade (depending when you start counting decades). Though it’s just another day, I like the idea of starting fresh with a new year. Sometimes we are haunted by the past, and feel limited by past failures. We may look at the present and feel powerless, discouraged, or worried.

But in Christ, there is always hope, and life. Our past doesn’t have to determine our future. And Jesus is Lord of the present, as well as the past and future.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:27

Palmer suggests that the church should become a kind of “halfway house between the comforts of private life and the challenges of diversity” (Palmer, 1981:28) The idea of intentional “halfway houses” where both the marginalized and church members come together as strangers has great potential for reuniting church and mission and for encouraging mutual transformation. Implicit in the idea of a halfway house is that the parties meet with the understanding that the place belongs to neither. The halfway house by its name is neither here nor there. God is the host.

…As people come together in hospitality, all parties must enter as learners (Van Engen, 1994:123-124). The risk for people who leave one community to go into another is that they will arrive as adults and not as children. They will come to offer service. They already know what to do. I really wonder whether anyone can commit themselves in a community if they do not first live a period of childhood there (Vanier, 1979:28).

The above is quoted from a chapter written by Kathryn Mowry in God So Loves the City. In context, it’s talking about what it means to welcome the stranger into our midst.

Can church on a Sunday morning be a neutral place? Should it be? I could argue that making a Sunday service too seeker sensitive can also make it less compelling. Worshipping God in community can affect both heart and mind. Hearing the good news can breath life into an empty soul. The author doesn’t appear to be talking about the music and sermon though, but about the body of Christ, and how we welcome people as a community. Therein lies the challenge. Can we be who we are, and also welcome strangers as they are?

Our church meets on Sunday mornings in a non-profit coffee house. The other 6 days of the week it’s open to the public. It’s a third place outside work and home where people gather, all sorts of people. While our staff and most of our volunteers are Christian, we are in many respects neutral. Many know we are church-affiliated, and we don’t hide that. For some, we are too Christian. For others, we are not overtly Christian enough. Still, we meet many strangers, and at times, we look around in surprise at the diversity of people sipping coffee in our community living room.

Mowry’s words remind me that God is the host, and while I have lived a period of childhood there, I wonder if it has become too familiar, and if I need to become a learner once again.

Palmer, Parker. The Company of Strangers: Christians & the Renewal of America’s Public Life. New York: Crossroad. 1981.
Vanier, Jean. Community and Growth. New York: Paulist Press, 1979.
Van Engen, Charles and Jude Tiersma eds. God So Loves the City. Monrovia, CA: MARC, 1994.