You might be...

...emergent?

After reading nearly five thousand pages of emerging-church literature, I have no doubt that the emerging church, while loosely defined and far from uniform, can be described and critiqued as a diverse, but recognizable, movement. You might be an emergent Christian: if you listen to U2, Moby, and Johnny Cash’s Hurt (sometimes in church), use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos, drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evenings, and always use a Mac; if your reading list consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N. T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning, Jim Wallis, Frederick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard Yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walter Winks and Lesslie Newbigin (not to mention McLaren, Pagitt, Bell, etc.) and your sparring partners include D. A. Carson, John Calvin, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Wayne Grudem; if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu; if you don’t like George W. Bush or institutions or big business or capitalism or Left Behind Christianity; if your political concerns are poverty, AIDS, imperialism, war-mongering, CEO salaries, consumerism, global warming, racism, and oppression and not so much abortion and gay marriage; if you are into bohemian, goth, rave, or indie; if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty; if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life; if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inerrant; if you search for truth but aren’t sure it can be found; if you’ve ever been to a church with prayer labyrinths, candles, Play-Doh, chalk-drawings, couches, or beanbags (your youth group doesn’t count); if you loathe words like linear, propositional, rational, machine, and hierarchy and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance; if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive, and rigid; if you support women in all levels of ministry, prioritize urban over suburban, and like your theology narrative instead of systematic; if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide; if you want to be the church and not just go to church; if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal like a river or a garden; if you believe doctrine gets in the way of an interactive relationship with Jesus; if you believe who goes to hell is no one’s business and no one may be there anyway; if you believe salvation has a little to do with atoning for guilt and a lot to do with bringing the whole creation back into shalom with its Maker; if you believe following Jesus is not believing the right things but living the right way; if it really bugs you when people talk about going to heaven instead of heaven coming to us; if you disdain monological, didactic preaching; if you use the word “story” in all your propositions about postmodernism—if all or most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be an emergent Christian.

...reformed?

After reading nearly five thousand blog posts of Reformed Christians, I have no doubt that the so-called “Young, Restless, and Reformed,” while loosely defined and far from uniform, can be described and critiqued as a diverse, but recognizable, movement. You might be a Reformed Christian: if you listen to Caedmon’s Call, Bob Kauflin, and Derek Webb’s She Must And Shall Go Free album (but never his later stuff), listen only to expository sermons through Romans, drink orange juice to the glory of God, and always use an Amazon Kindle to read publications from Crossway Books; if your reading list consists primarily of John Piper, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, J.I. Packer, D.A. Carson, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Michael Horton, Wayne Grudem, Bruce Ware, Tom Schreiner, Kevin DeYoung, and Ted Kluck (not to mention Mahaney, Mohler, Dever, Duncan, etc.) and your sparring partners include Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Greg Boyd, and Rick Warren; if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Owen, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, or anyone just named John; if you don’t like Barack Obama or conversations or contextualization or egalitarianism or Left Behind Christianity; if your political concerns are abortion, gay marriage, abortion, gay marriage, abortion, gay marriage, abortion, gay marriage, and abortion and not so much health care or the economy; if you are into singing Psalms, hymns, or Puritan Paperbacks; if you talk about penal substitutionary atonement and the sovereignty of God; if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways Pentecostalism has ruined the church; if you love the Bible as a inerrant, infallible, verbally inspired book that can be used for psychiatric diagnostics and scientific proof of a young earth; if you search for unity with other believers but aren’t sure it can be found; if you’ve ever been to a church that teaches exclusively out of the ESV, has a large Reformed bookstore, promotes several conferences a year all with basically the same speakers; if you loathe words like story, narrative, relational, open, and seeker-sensitive and use words like God-centered, hedonist, regenerate, error, heresy, discernment, and authority; if you grew up in a Christian home that in retrospect seems semi-Pelagian, naive, and about works righteousness; if you forbid women in all levels of ministry, cater to white suburbia, and like your theology systematic instead of practically relevant; if you disbelieve that God really wants to save everyone; if you want to stop dating the church; if you long for a community that exercises church discipline, thinks criticism is a good thing, and doesn’t allow dating; if you believe the “loving your enemies” prooftext gets in the way of the Just War criteria; most of humanity is predestined to hell and no one can do anything about it; if you believe salvation has a little to do with responding in faith and repentance and a lot to do with sovereign grace and limited atonement; if you believe following Jesus is about being doctrinally correct but not necessarily walking as he did (because that’s impossible!); if it really bugs you when people talk about wanting to see heaven getting into people instead of getting people into heaven; if you disdain efforts to help the poor as liberal or supplanting the gospel; if you use the word “justification” in all your arguments against NT Wright–if all or most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be a Reformed Christian.

(Thanks to iMonk for the post and the link)

Rollin' with Rollins

Here's another great little story from Peter Rollins' book "How to [Not] Speak of God":

There was once a wise teacher who would go to the temple every evening to pray with his disciples. By the temple there was a stray cat who would wander in every evening during these prayers and disturb the peace. So, each evening before prayers the teacher would tie the cat to a tree outside before entering. The teacher was old and passed away a few years later. His disciples continued to tie the cat to the tree each evening before prayers.

Eventually the cat died and so some of the disciples purchased a new cat so that they could continue the ritual. After a hundred years the tree died and a new one was quickly planted so that the cat (by now the eighth-generation cat) could be tied to it. Over the centuries learned scholars began to write books on the symbolic meaning of the act.

Rollins had a particular point he was making with that story, but to me it seems to have even broader application (read the book to know his intent).

The story reminds me of another book "A Canticle for Leibowitz", that describes future history after a third world war (nuclear) ravages the world and a new dark age follows. Some of the traditions and myths that are formed over hundreds or thousands of years are hilarious (especially the prophecies of The Poet and his famous line "Non cogito ergo non sum").

Of course, none of these references clarifies what this post is about. Then again, it's not just about one thing. I'm struck by many things that remind me of the symbolic cat tied to a tree and the canonization of Mr. Leibowitz:

* Plymouth Brethren communion services
* Asking Jesus into your heart
* the song "Mansion Over the Hilltop"
* The modern use of the term "saved"
* Systematic theology
* Neo-Reformed Fundamentalists
* The Religious Right as a political force
* "culture" and "truth" wars
* Bible version wars (especially KJV-only)
* The terms "heaven" and "hell"

There's probably more, but that's probably enough of a taste to get this iconoclast improperly branded. Sometimes I think God cares more about the poor cat tied to the tree than our loud prayers as they tried to drown out its mewling.

Two Perspectives

There is an old anecdote in which a mystic, an evangelical pastor and a fundamentalist preacher die on the same day and awake to find themselves by the pearly gates. Upon reaching the gates they are promptly greeted by Peter, who informs them that before entering heaven they must be interviewed by Jesus concerning the state of their doctrine.

The first to be called forward is the mystic, who is quietly ushered into a room. Five hours later the mystic reappears with a smile, saying, ‘I thought I had got it all wrong.’

Then Peter signals to the evangelical pastor, who stands up and enters the room. After a full day has passed the pastor reappears with a frown and says to himself, ‘How could I have been so foolish!’

Finally Peter asks the fundamentalist to follow him. The fundamentalist picks up his well-worn Bible and walks into the room. A few days pass with no sign of the preacher, then finally the door swings open and Jesus himself appears, exclaiming, ‘How could I have got it all so wrong!’

This story is told in Peter Rollins' excellent book "How [not] to speak of God". It is a very deep, thoughtful book that provides a strong philosophical framework for the "emerging conversation." If all you've heard is sound bites against the emerging church or Emergent Village (two different things), and if you think you have some mental chops, then for the sake of intellectual honesty you owe it to yourself to read this book (or just shut up about the emerging conversation because you don't really know what you're talking about). :)

He makes a case for two kinds of idolatry - one physical, one conceptual. In each case, the object has no inherent "idolness" about it, but one's view of the object is what makes it into an idol. The conceptual idolatry he warns against is doctrines and ideologies about God which have been fashioned by men.

This is what the story above satirizes, as though the fundamentalist's ideas about God gleaned from scripture were so comprehensive and true that he could actually teach Jesus! The evangelical is really in the same boat, but with a bit more humility, while the mystic comes from a very different viewpoint.

The mystic realizes up front that he knows very little of God, even from his interpretations of things God has revealed in nature or scripture; God is simply to big to objectively know. And besides, the mystic realizes that God is really to be known SUBJECTIVELY, not objectively; God desires a RELATIONSHIP with us, not for us to study him like a college course. We are like a baby in the arms of its mother, hardly comprehending her or her thoughts at all, but knowing her love, her smile, her tenderness.

As my children grow to adulthood, they will probably understand a lot more about me; if they read my blog entries, study my song lyrics and poetry, scan my photo albums and scrapbooks my mother made of my years in little league and high school sports, they will know more about me. And yet, there is SO MUCH they don't and likely never will know. It saddens me some, because I really would like them to know me better. But I'm content with having a relationship in the now with them and letting it grow. It may never really be of eternal consequence for them to know which year I won the school spelling bee and which year I lost to Cathy Lloyd by my misspelling "occurrence".

So call me a mystic. Call me emerging. Heck, just call me - I'd rather have a relationship with you than merely know a bunch of factoids about you and delude myself into thinking that because I know about you that I somehow know you.

Citizens of the kingdom of love: UNITE.

Once upon a time there was a super-power that exercised its military might over most of the civilized world. It provided detailed infrastructure, maintained the peace, and provided substantial freedoms for its citizens. Even though it did not abide by a strict, bible-based morality, it had its own sense of fairness and justice, and was willing to use imprisonment and torture to keep the peace and make its point.

One day a man came along inviting people to change their allegiance from this empire based on force to his new empire based on love.

The powers-that-be laughed it off until the movement began to gain steam and affected the position and power of those in influential positions (especially the conservative and liberal religious types who sought either an alliance or to discredit him). Extremist groups tried to link themselves with this new “king”, but he wouldn’t allow it. Isolationists looked to see if he was one of them, but he was far too public for them.

When confronted with the question of paying taxes to the current empire, rather than arguing against taxation, this “king” demonstrated his position by happily paying his share. His later supporters would further clarify this position, stating that the governmental authorities should be obeyed, taxes and “tribute” should be paid, and that this was all in keeping with this new “kingdom of love” somehow.

His later supporters also made it clear that they were first and foremost citizens of this “kingdom of love” and that their role in the empire was to be ambassadors sent with messages from their king for peace and harmony. They were also to encourage citizens of the empire to switch allegiances because of the better way of life found in the new kingdom.

The empire rejected the idea of allegiance to anything other than itself; that was tantamount to treason, and was punishable by harassment, imprisonment, torture, and even death. Public verbal affirmations were required (similar to “Heil Hitler” in recent times).

Supporters of the kingdom, however, encouraged its citizens to only verbally affirm their king’s right to allegiance. They were grateful for certain freedoms and peace within the empire, but they realized where those freedoms ultimately came from (and it wasn’t from the empire).

The citizens of the kingdom realized they were dependent upon their king and interdependent upon each other. Independence was not a thing to be celebrated, nor was rebellion against the empire. Love, mutual submission and respect, mercy, truth, and goodness were their hallmarks, and they stuck with this even when the empire finally grew tired of their growing numbers and began slandering, imprisoning, and killing them. But they were willing to endure these trials because they knew that one day their king’s wishes would be done in every empire and kingdom, and that his better sense of justice would ultimately overcome.

Citizens of the kingdom of love: UNITE.

Cafes & Festivals & Theaters, oh my!

After 10 years, BYB is shifting our focus. It's actually been a long time coming, but sometimes you don't notice things like that until they are upon you or past.

We've been functioning primarily inside what is sometimes called the "Christian Ghetto" - and we'd gotten pretty good at it for a local/regional group. But it's gotten to the point where it felt like we were "preaching to the choir" and in some ways stagnating as artists, musicians, etc. We plan to stop playing churches and focus on making music appropriate for cafes, festivals, theaters, etc.

While we still think there is some value to making music for the purpose of helping people worship God, there is also a glut of great music out there (and some not so great). Inspiration is a funny thing, so I try to never say never, but at this point we're moving on with no plans to return.

The concept that has been capturing our hearts and minds over the last two years, though, has been the over-arching story of the scripture: the devastating impact of man's attempt to be God and the restoring, healing impact of God becoming man. It's the contrast of two kings and two kingdoms - the empire of earth vs. the kingdom of heaven. Fear of death vs. the hope of resurrection. Darkness vs. light.

The goals and principles of these two kingdoms are polar opposites, and they have played out through all of human history. We're intrigued by the tension of the two, by the results of following either way, and the impact that can have on a home, a community, a nation, and the planet.

Just look at the current economic crises - the causes and effects, the possible responses. There's probably enough there for a whole album (so far we only have one new song, but it begins the discussion at least).

All of life comes under this tension - empire of man vs. kingdom of heaven. The good news that Jesus brought included a study of this very tension, and his recommendations for how to respond to injustice, anger, sensuality, oppression, poverty, religiosity, condemnation, and more. We plan to explore these things from both sides in the coming months, years, and albums.

We think that the notion of any form of Christian religion as primarily a "get out of hell free card" or a "we're right and everyone else is wrong club" is absurd and contrary to the teachings of Jesus (the smartest teacher who ever walked the planet). His focus was on changing/transforming our character to heal and restore the world. And the ones who hated his teachings most were the religious, rich, and powerful.

We suspect that some of the religious types out there won't understand or agree with our shift in focus, but we're beyond caring. We see that the kingdom really is the pearl of great price (just like some famous teacher once expounded). And it's stuff like that that inspires, invigorates, and propels us as artists. We hope you join us on our journey. :)

Commencement 2009

Our daughter Hannah Joy was one of 37 graduates in the 2009 CHEM Graduation Ceremonies. Each family provides a brief charge (or "blessing") and then hands the diploma to the graduate. It was pretty moving ceremony (but also pretty long - Joyce and I have a few ideas to chop out about an hour from it!). Anyway, since our surname is so late alphabetically and there were no Zalewskis or Zyzyks, Hannah was the last to receive her diploma. Here is the text from my charge to her:

---

Hannah Joy... we love you, and we’re very proud of you. Having you and being able to homeschool you was a dream for us... that turned into a quite an adventure. We’ve loved it. However, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! Along the way we learned that all great things require:

• Significant risk – and the enemy will fiercely attack with thoughts of fear and failure. But remember, God has not given us the spirit of fear.

• Desperate faith – where the resources you lack can only be supplied by God himself. Trust Him.

• Hard work – God won’t do it all for you, you have to be diligent with what you can do. Just do it.

• Personal sacrifice – you show what you truly value by what you’re willing to give up for it. May you sacrifice for the best things.

If you choose this path of risk, faith, work, and sacrifice, trials are guaranteed… but so is great joy as God provides and proves himself to be your God, not merely the God of your parents.

And don’t forget: knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. As you go to college to acquire the knowledge you need for your calling, may you primarily be known for your love for God and for others.

Your future is very bright. We named you Hannah, which means "grace". Hannah Joy. May you always live up to your name. We love you.

Yet another inner revolution (aka "Get out of the bedroom!")

A few months ago we visited Oak Pointe Church in Wixom or Novi (not sure which) two Sundays in a row. The first Sunday the pastor said it's not only important to know what your gifts ARE, but also what they are good FOR in relation to the kingdom of God. I had already begun musing on such things that morning prior to church, so it was a confirmation and a timely word for me. He also talked about how God doesn't want our words of praise if we're not living praiseworthy lives. In other words, don't tell me you love me when you're not acting like it.

That was a beginning of sorts of yet another inner revolution. I've been doing the worship leading thing for about 12 years now. It seemed like I kind of "had it down", but what I didn't realize was that I was stagnating as a musician and as an artist. I've been so busy in the spiritual bedroom telling God how much I love him that I rarely left to go show him how much in the great big scary world outside.

Alongside these thoughts has been the growing awareness that the gospel evangelicalism has been preaching for decades (if not longer) has a comparative donut hole to the entire donut. It's been a micro-focus on a single facet of the diamond, without celebrating and offering the WHOLE diamond to the world. We've been selling a spiritual fire insurance as though it's the main thing that was on Jesus' mind as he instructed thousands at a time. We've been wrong.

The gospel is much richer, much fuller, with much further-reaching here-and-now implications than merely getting into heaven and out of hell when you die. It is the good news that brings shalom to our selves, our homes, our communities, our world - if only we would believe it and do it. I'm finding the teachings of Jesus more and more compelling, practical, relevant, and different than I was led to believe in the religious institutions of my past. His methods would get him kicked out of most churches if his acquaintances didn't first. This is someone and something worth investing the rest of my life in. But that means change - what he called "dying to self".

I'm tired of merely helping people tell God they love him and then watch them go off and misrepresent what he's really about. I'm tired of the pride and power and posing that goes on in safe little moral church buildings. I'm compelled to follow a brave, humble, loving Jesus as he reaches out to those outside the synagogue, outside the church, outside safe, polite society.

Now that we have begun the next leg of this risky, scary journey, God has begun giving the voice, the message, the songs again. He's been leveraging the relationships developed over the last few years as the foundation for a new thing that he is doing through us. We want to connect, to love, to empathize with the real life problems out there, and hopefully gain the trust and opportunity to share how the way of Jesus applies to each and every problem we could face - but not in some arrogant, condescending, close-minded way. We want to foster understanding on both sides (unlike the screaming polemics you see on talking head political shows).

If you're the praying kind, please pray that God will use us in the lives of needy people to provide love, hope, direction, and support. Pray that the songs keep coming, and that they are helpful and excellent in quality. Thanks!