Human Nature and Homosexuality

Recently, I was asked my opinion on a news article where a local pastor described his churches openness to the GLBT community with these closing thoughts, "Our position is not one of lenience, but a matter of justice,"..." It's not that we don't acknowledge the reality of sin.  It's not a sin to be gay or act in accordance with your nature."

Here was my response...

The question of our nature has to be asked not in context of “heterosexuals vs. homosexuals,” (because they are too limiting) but in larger context of the image of God. Our original nature, our correct and true nature and identity is as children of God. However, we are fractured icons of our Creator/Father God.  We are all mutated versions of what was once perfect.  So, to “act in accordance with our nature” is exactly what God wants and why Christ came to die. I honestly think once we understand God's love for us (we give this lip service, but I don’t think we really comprehend it) and that he wants to see us return to his image we will have a profoundly different understanding of God’s discipline (Heb.12 ff). 

Although, Christ followers are in a process of transformation, becoming for like Jesus, we still have to deal with the fact that sin has infected our true identify. God did not create us in conflict with his nature, good pleasure or image. Sin is the cancerous growth alters our reflection of God. Yes, sin is now a reality of our DNA (literally or metaphorically, I am not sure), but it was not the intention “in the beginning.” So, I am not interested in accommodating, explaining, reconciling or indulging my brokenness (eg. my sin), but am clamoring and seeking wholeness through Christ. I want to see humanity regain its imago dei and begin to replicate the character of God we were created to echo.

Here is a thought, what is the point of reconciling one's sexuality this side of eternity?  In the end there will be no sex in heaven or hell. Say someone either becomes comfortable with their same sex attraction or truly changes and goes straight, great (either way), but what have they gained?  A longer perspective is in order, one that sees past this rotating mud ball, into the eternal desire of the Almighty.  Please don’t think I am trivializing the pain and struggle of those who deal daily with this issue, I am not. My hearts breaks for them (and I tearing up now and am a little pissed at God over their torment). I think the bigger question is, “Where does one find their identity?” Do we find it in an earth bound concept (such as single, married, gay, straight, Black, White, La Raza, rich, poor, Chinese, Jamaican, the list can go on) or in our true nature as God’s creation? Are we trying to reclaim the imago dei in our humanity and earthly existence or are we just trying to make the best of our broken humanity? I am pushing for the former. Yes, it is harder, more frustrating and bewildering, but in the long run much more satisfying, complete and honoring to God.

In the end, we all struggle with something, some with their sexuality, me with my lust and others with anger, theft or hypocrisy.  The hard work is fighting against our proclivity to allow these things to define us or actually to redefine us into something we were never meant to be.

I guess I am hoping the “macro” or “meta” discussion here transcends the usual debate and issues seeking a deeper understanding of human value and worth.  This is why I pushing the imago dei, identity and an eternal perspective motifs.

You got something on your forehead...

Possibly, when you have something stuck to your forehead you are drunk, playing Indian Poker or drunk while playing Indian Poker. Well, today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent and I have had a smudge of ash stuck to my forehead since 7:30am.

It has been a battle to not wipe it off, like I did last year.  Its like having a booger hang out your nose (and you know it) or toilet paper stuck to your shoe (and you know it) or you leaving the tag on your new shirt. I have fixated on this mark for most of the day.  I have battled keeping it on.  I have wanted to blend in and be unnoticed.  Honestly, I am uncomfortable calling attention to myself. I tried to find reasons to get rid of the ash. I avoided my own reflection in mirrors and windows.  When I was conscience of it, I would try to hide my ash by looking down when I walked.

Nothing seemed to relieve the tension.

Today, I have been in two coffee shops and the lobby of a hotel meeting with people.  Even though no one has pointed out the smudge or even asked about it, I have gotten some strange looks.

If I feel like I have a glowing neon zit in the center of my forehead, why haven't I wiped it off?  Here is some of my thinking:

• I don't want to hide what I believe is true, so I am keeping the ash.
• I don't want to wuss out, so I am keeping the ash.
• Last year when I saw someone else wearing ashes I admired their commitment, so I am keeping the ash.
• I think there is something good, healthy and spiritually redemptive about being uncomfortable in and with my faith, so I am keeping the ash.
• I enjoy participating in my faith in unfamiliar ways, so I am keeping the ash.
• It has been a constant reminder (more of a annoyance) about repentance, forgiveness and sacrifice, so I am keeping the ash. 
• It is good to physically embody my faith, so I am keeping the ash.
• I want to make a statement about my faith, so I am keeping the ash.
• I think, right or wrong, this is an exercise in discipline, so I am keeping the ash.
• This serves as a reminder that my faith should not always remain comfortable or easy, so I am keeping the ash.

 Today, I am going to keep my ashes.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Lately, I have been doing some thinking about “calling.” 

You know that voice or feeling from God that leads and prompts you in a certain direction.  It could be the noticed expectation that God has something in store for you.  A longing.  Something drawing you down a certain path or into an unplanned or unexpected journey.

That, almost physical badge, which gives us the right to do the absurd, weird and even reckless with our lives “in the name of God.”  The trump card we can wield as validation in the face of criticism and questions.

Calling is a biblical idea, although I am not sure we understand it correctly.  Jesus called disciples, apostles and others:

·         He called to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

·         He called Matthew the tax collector saying, “Follow me.”

·         He called the Scribe to get his priorities straight, “Follow me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

·         He called Phillip (and Nathaniel) according to John’s gospel, “He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me.’”

·         He called Saul his, “chosen instrument.”

At its core “calling” is about obedience, not license.  It’s not about success (just ask Jeremiah). It’s not about comfort. It’s not about rationality (“Oh, I get that!”). It’s not even about ability? 

I often question God about me calling, “Why do you make me do this!?"  "If you want me to do this, why don’t you make me good at it?”I confessed to a friend this week, “I feel confident in very little I do related to my calling.” 

In the end, God does not care about my level of ability, comfort, success or even confidence.  The only concern to God is my obedience and faithfulness. I have to believe if I am faithful and obedient to his calling, then he will take of the rest. He will work through my inability, provide peace in discomfort, change my understanding of success and cause me to be confident in him.

“Follow me” he says. That is all he asks.

A Great Question

"The US has more mega churches than ever before, but has less people attending church and calling Jesus their Lord. What does this tell us?"

--Michael Frost

Hirsch and Frost #5

 Here is central idea of the entire four days and the most critical understanding for the church:
 

Christological question: What is the Gospel?   
Missiological question: What is the purpose of God and his people?
Ecclesiological question: What is the form and function of the God’s church?

Newbigin’s Formulation for how to accomplish the above sequence:

1.      A recovery of an eschatology that recognizes that our political or religious activity cannot establish the KoG. Rather, a belief that the coming reign of God is the framework for all missionary practice.

a.       It is not up to our activity, our lobbying or practices, but simply abandoning ourselves to the hope that the reign of God will prevail.

                                                              i.      Stop seeing what is wrong and start seeing what is right.

1.      The KoG is unfolding all around us.  Cooperate with it!

2.      A rediscovery of the freedom of the Christian life, based in the grace of Jesus.

a.       There is too much neurosis in the church today.

                                                              i.      God is present and God is good.

                                                            ii.      The kingdom of light is more powerful than the kingdom of darkness.

                                                          iii.      Embrace the joy of grace.

3.      A “declericalising” of the church and an equal recovery of the importance of so-called lay leaders who help congregations “to share with one another the actual experience of their weekday work and to seek illumination from the gospel for their daily secular duty.”

a.       This is not to do away with the clergy, but to do away with the laity.

                                                              i.      Commission (ordain) the average person for the work and ministry they have been given (no matter what it is).

                                                            ii.      If you ordain everyone half of our battles (women and gays) would be over (Frost).

4.      A radical theological critique of the theory and practice of denominationalism, which Newbigin became famous for claiming was the religious aspect of secularization.

5.      An objective and distance examination of Western culture with the help of views of those from other culture.

a.       To help overcome blind spots.

6.      A resolute preparedness to hold fast to the core belief of the Christian gospel bearing in mind that “(t)he gospel is not a set of beliefs that arise or could arise from empirical observation of the whole human experience. It is the announcement of a name and a fact that offer the starting point for a new and life-long enterprise of understanding and coping with experience. To accept it means a new beginning, a radical conversion.

7.      A commitment to the belief that mission must proceed from a dynamic worshiping community of faith and not merely from innovations or new methods and techniques.

a.       The best hermeneutic (interpretation) of the gospel is a group of man and women who believe and live by it. 

Some addition ideas by Frost:

·         Let Jesus be your reference point

o   Evangelism is an ethical framework

§  Not just an invitation to forgiveness and heaven, but a context for a better way of living.

·         Complete and total renewal and transformation.

·         Nonbelievers want to participate in the KoG (without using those terms)

o   Racial reconciliation

o   The environment

o   Human trafficking

o   Social transformation- not a means to another end.

§  Cooperation

o   The table (kitchen, dinner room or pub) us a primary missional zone

·         Foster a radical spirituality of engagement

o   Retreat=Time with God

§  Engagement= leaving God behind to serve others (incorrect)

o   Retreat=Time with God

§  Engagement= time with God

·         The belief that our daily lives can be illuminated by the Gospel.

·         Be inspired by prevenient grace

o   The understanding God is at work in everyone’s life before we get there to convene grace.

·         Follow the Missio Dei into strange places.

o   Listen to the rhythms of your context. Sit in local places. Hang out in local coffee shops. Talk to local people. Join community groups.

o   Be employed in the neighborhood. Be free of being so driven by results. Stop measuring your success by how many people attend and start measuring it by what God is doing in your context.

o   Engage in snowball research.  That is, meet the community gatekeepers, the movers and shakers. Listen to them. Hear of their dreams for your neighborhood.  Who knows, they may be the persons of peace referred to in Luke 10.

o   Get rid of your church building (he was being tongue and cheek).

o   Say, “yes” to every invitation you receive. Say yes, to every party, every meal, every committee you get invited to attend.

·         Inspire others around you to do the same.     

o   Then ask, “What does the rule and reign of God look like in this place?”

Quote of the day: “10-12 percent of the population in Australia attends church.  Less in Britain, where 2% of the population in France and .05% in Austria regularly attend church.”

Hirsch and Frost #4

Continuing with Apostlic Genius Micahel Frost explains...

• Missional Incarnational Impulse
• Reforming the whole church around a new agenda. The problem is..
• Gospel reduction is primarily information on how to go to heaven after you die.
• With a footnote about increasing your personal happiness and success through God.
• With a small footnote about character develop.
• Smaller footnote about spiritual experience.
•  With a smaller footnote about social/global transformation.
• Newbigin- the MII is an” invitation to join with God to bring about his transformation for the world.”
• Bosch- “mission is more and different from recruitment to our brand of religion, it is alerting people to the universal reign of God through Christ.”
• God’s reign and rule is complete and total!
• Mission is the announcement of the universal reign of God in Christ and the demonstration of the universal reign of God in Christ.
• We need to create a foretaste of this universal reign.
• Demonstration is as legitimate as announcement.
• Both are equal
• It is the good news of God’s love incarnated in the witness of a community for the sake of the world.
• The source of the MII is the Missio Dei
• Mission is derived from the character of God and not what he church does.
• Trinitatian
• The Father sending the Son and the Father and the Son sending the Spirit and the Son sending the church with the Spirit.
• The goal of Mission is salvation and justice.
• The Gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with himself and communion with others in the context of a community for the good of others and the world.
• You can’t have a mission-less church or a church-less mission.
• Mission is the catalyzing function of the church.
• What would the church look like if mission catalyzed disciple making, community and worship
• In actuality they should catalyze each other.
• Evangelism is an announcement
• Words are required
• The message is indeed necessary. It is unique. It cannot be replaced by unexplained deeds.
• Sorry St. Francis!
• Words must be backed by action
• Church membership cannot be the primary aim of the announcement.
• There needs to be acknowledgment of the rule and reign of God in Christ.
• There are no perfect set of words that capture the gospel.
• Do we need to find a new entry point for the Gospel?
• In this generation there is not an existential sense of shame.
• Appealing to their sinfulness may not be the best inroad.  Understanding sin is still an important issue, but maybe not the most effective place to start.
• What if we invited them into a movement that will change the world (not to mention their lives).
• Mission is the “out” and incarnation is the “in.” 
• There needs to be a depth in relationship.
• The myth is “contact is contamination.”
• Consent is condoning.
• Go and serve, but live among too!
• We have to reexamine Jesus
• His sinlessness and his holiness

• Questions Missional Churches Should Ask
• To whom have we been sent?
• Be focused
• Neighborhoods- geographic
• Subculture -affinity
• Subculture- ethnicity
• Subculture- socioeconomic
• Home groups- to whom has God sent you?
• Who will go with us?
• Don’t go alone.
• Go collectively
• The church is a body
• Where will we meet them?
• First place (home)
• Second place (work)
• Third place (frequent interaction with the same people)
• Wendell Barry- location and proximity
• What does the universal reign of Christ look like here?

• Communitas (Victor Turner)
• Community catalyzed by ordeal
• Expel- Liminal- Re/entry
• Mission as a luminal experience.
• The whole group is diminished or let down if one member is absent.
• Leadership should model communitas as a mini version of what it expects the church at large to be.

Quote of the day: "Alcohol can be a great social lubricant for the Gospel."

Hirsch and Frost #3

In order to understand what caused the explosive growth (the missional kaboom) in the 1st Christian Church and the 21st underground Chinese Church, Hirsch unpacked two components of "Apostolic Genius." In our second day he explained Apostolic Environment and Organic Systems.

Apostolic Environment

• If you want a missional church there needs to be apostolic leadership.
• An AE is an atmosphere where those with the gifts for generating catalytic change are free to push the church and challenge the status quo.
• They are the custodians of the DNA of Christ’s gospel, the gospel of the church.
• They too are the seeders of missional DNA.
• This will require the release of apostolic energy/Spirit in planting churches and/or push boundaries.

Organic Systems

• A simple structure of organization that develops naturally and not through force.
• Not a hierarchy
• No need for institutionally sanctioned professionals (seminary degrees or ordination).
• The structure is an interconnected web.
• So if one part fails the whole structure is not put at risk.
• Decentralized.
• Decentralized systems are less likely to be subject to heresy than centralized systems.
• The system will self correct.
• These systems seek to not manage people but the environment.

Other ideas of the day:

• Discipleship: lX(little Christs)  leads to embodiment (life + message) leads to spiritual authority leads to leadership.
• APEST: created order not just redemptive order (G-generative/M-maintenance)
• A- seeders of ideas, generators of movement, extended of kingdom (G)
• P- sensitive to God, discernment, calls for repentance , challenges the status quo, speak on his behalf (G)
• E- infectious recruiters to the cause. (G)
• S- creators of community, vital to health and organization (M)
• T- brings of wisdom, integration of ideas, creators of understanding, theologians (M)

Four Movements of a Movement
Hirsch suggested one of the reasons the 1st century church and the 21st century underground Chinese church experienced exponential growth was that they were "movements" and not institutional, bureaucratic organizations. He listed four key factors in a "movement."

• Vibe/Ethos (feeling)
• Starting- transformational vision for society, articulated in simple terms, early adopters are passionate, martyrs, “believers.”
• Decline- “doubt”, it does not reproduce new forms, but only questions old forms, suffers from the utopian flaw (reality does not achieve vision), structures fail (we believe the message, but we can’t deliver), ideological wain (doubt of message), ethical framework slips (no belief to constrain morality),  absolute end (death).
• Renewal- identify factors that caused for decline, doubts and negative thinking and deal with them, sigmoid growth (up and to the right), refound and reinvent (“radical traditionalism”).

• Network (structure)
• individuals, cells and organization
• networks within networks
• Not a hierarchy, but a web of connections.
• You can remove a cell and the web maintains its connections.
• "Chaordic" theory- chaos and order
• Order the core values of what makes us us.
• Allow creative expression (chaos) of those core values.
• Distribute power and function to the outer limits.
• Resist centralization

• Virus (spread)
• "Memes" code to ideas (genes to genetics) (Dawkins)
• We don’t get ideas, ideas get us.  Our minds are just the expression of our genes desire to survive.
• An idea infects you and you become a host.
• Pay It Forward
• Exponential growth

• Reproducing(able)
• Begin with the end in mind.
• Don’t plant a church, plant a movement
• Plant Jesus and that will become a movement. This will allow for creative expression.
• If what we do can’t be reproduced by ordinary people it is too complex.
• If it is not easily repeatable, it is not a movement. 

Quote of the day: “The best way to preserve tradition is to have children, not wear your father’s hat.”

Hirsch and Frost #2

Today we started out by buying (admitting) the problem the Western church finds itself in currently. With the world church growing (the fast growing religion in the world), the western church is presently the fast shrinking church in religion.

Knowing this we can see that something is wrong. Somehow the western church has gotten off track and lost its way.

Something has to change or the western church will soon find itself completely silent in our world. More of the same will not change anything or make any progress for the church. As of right now we are perfectly designed to achieve what we are achieving…impotence, shrinkage and irrelevance.

To affect change the church needs to change the story its telling. The church has to veer off the course it has been traveling for centuries. If we don’t tell a different story, we won’t change anything. We need to change the paradigm, the system story, the underlining foundation of why we do what we do, not the expression of paradigm (that would simply miss the point). In short we have to reorder the sequence of our groundwork. Without this lasting change will not be sustained.

To rectify the problem, Alan Hirsch proposes the adoption of “simplex” (simple/complex) 3 word worldview: “Jesus is Lord.” This kind of monotheistic theology is an integrated allegiance to God who is over all aspects of life. Thus worship/mission/discipleship is offering our world back to God. This does not allow for a sacred secular divide (Deut. 6:5). God claims everything completely. Anything that leads us away from God is evil and any that leads us to God is good.

Hirsch thinks the most primal, potent and sweetest form of the church is not the institutional church, but the church as a “movement.” A movement that is active, decentralize and organic.

The way to return Christianity to its movement roots, the way to refound the church is to return to Jesus. Hirsch would say the church’s Christology (its beliefs and view of Jesus the Christ) reveal its Missiology (its purpose) which in turn informs its Ecclesiology (its form). We have to understand the church does not have mission, but the mission of God has church. The church needs to reintegrate back into Jesus the Christ to understand the mission and expression of the church. We can’t continue allowing ecclesiology to wag the dog of Christology/theology and missiology. We have to remember the way(s) of Jesus.

From this simplex theology comes:

• Apostolic Environment- recovering the apostolic ministry of catalytic change.
• Organic Systems- organization as a living organism to reflect how God has structured life itself.
• Discipline Making- generate authentic followers of Jesus
• Communitas- the bonding together of people through ordeal, risk and threat.
• Missional Incarnation Impulse- the practical out working of the mission of God (the sending God).

All of which contribute to “Apostolic Genius.” 

Quote of the day: “Sex is worship, so bonk away brothers and sisters to the glory of the Lord!”

Hirsch and Frost #1

I am back in the town of soap made with “vegan and cruelty free" ingredients, recycled doors and windows and grass fed ground beef.  Back in the city of bicycles, craft beers and bridges. Back in PDX, Stumptown, the City of Rose. Ahhh, Portland!

Yesterday, we (the family five) had a good time hanging with people from The Evergreen Community... twice.

But for the next couple days I am in class studying with a couple of amazing thinkers/writers Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost. The title of the class is “The Forgotten Ways: Cultivating Missional Imagination and Praxis for the 21st Century Church.” This may be a bit too much to swallow, so here is the course description:

“This course will involve a comprehensive exploration into the internal and external dynamics of rapidly expanding, highly transformative, Jesus movements in history. We will explore the phenomenology of two significant movements in history (namely the Early Christian Movement and The Underground Chinese Church) in an attempt to identify what factors must come together to create catalytic, exponential, growth. This is not primarily an historical study. Emphasis will fall on the interpretation of apostolic dynamics for the missional situation of the Church in the West—particularly with implications for the Emerging Missional Church. We will explore the implications at the level of philosophical systems, theological paradigms, as well as dealing with practical issues facing local churches.”

More thoughts later...