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5 Things I've loved about the Emerging Church movement...

With everyone writing obituaries and whatnot for the emerging church movement, and with myself coming across more and more as a critic, I feel a personal push towards taking a time-out to recollect some positives and praise for a movement, that while mixed, and in many ways losing momentum and splintering, has been significant for me in my journey. 

1. My initial intro to the emerging church movement came in a seminar with (yes, believe it or not) Doug Pagitt and Mark Driscoll together. On a personal level, at a low point in my life and faith, feeling burnt out and burned, they talked about a postmodern (hey! Remember that word??) approach to faith that was more about Jesus than institution, and more about life in the way of Jesus that made a difference in the world and less about a focus on getting people over the goal-line of decision and their rears into heaven. All of that resonated with me deeply. Brian McLaren's books The Church on the Other Side and More Ready Than You Realize, Len Sweet's Postmodern Pilgrims, an Origins conference with Erwin McManus (and many of his books)... all of these kept my vision and heart for faith and church together even while I worked out on a personal level some things I needed to get sorted that threatened to shipwreck me. And even though now I find myself more often than not pushing back against BOTH Driscoll and Pagitt from my tiny speck of middle ground, I'm eternally grateful that at just the right time, God allowed our paths to cross. 

2. On a theological level, whether they were ever really connected with the emerging church or not, people like Todd Hunter and Dallas Willard, Rob Bell and Ruth Haley Barton all became introduced to me through the EC. And they have all had profound impacts on my thinking about God and faith. Todd Hunter gave me an expanded view of the Gospel and the Kingdom that continues to shape me today- and he did it at various Emerging Churchy type things like the Emergent Convention (remember those??) and Off the Map. Rob Bell, while cool and all, and inability to boil down the Gospel to 140 characters aside (I kid, I kid), proved to be a game-changer for me, mainly by introducing me to William Webb and the redemptive hermeneutic, something that has been massively forming for me. His simple explanation of Webb's take on the redemptive arc in Scripture set in motion for me a internal movement that led me to a completely different view of women in leadership and has shaped Evergreen for the better.

3. On a pastoral/church level, the emerging church conversation broadened my ecclesiastical horizons and helped me to see God at work in all kinds of expressions of Church. But even more so, it gave me the freedom to think outside the boundary lines I had previously limited myself to in terms of what Church could and should be. It introduced me to ideas of a more organic approach, helped shape my thinking on flattened leadership structures and, in a sense, gave me "permission" to try something as crazy as church in a pub.

4. On a missional level, it's largely been through the emerging church that I've been turned on to voices in the missional stream of thinking, like Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, voices which continue to shape my way of thinking and orientation in the world and which continue to challenge, stretch and even confound and frustrate me- all good things and sorely needed. 

5. Finally, I credit the emerging church movement/impulse with a renewed emphasis in my own heart, in my city, and in the American church in general towards justice and the poor. If you think the emerging church has just been all talk, and no practical good in the world, you haven't had your eyes open for the last ten years. The amount of influence the emerging church has wielded in terms of getting the sleeping giant of the American church off its rear and into the game in terms of helping the poor both locally and globally has been WAY out of proportion to its size and influence in other areas (though it has had influence in other areas). While the biggest churches in America ten years ago were hosting conferences on how to grow your church even bigger, today they host conferences about, push people towards and resource (for example) the fight against AIDS in Africa, clean water around the world and more. Ten years ago much of evangelicalism in the West had its head in the sand in regards to global poverty and today the landscape looks very different. And while a concern for justice and the poor didn't originate with the emerging church, I think a renewed consciousness about and concern for the poor among  can largely be credited to the "prophetic" emerging voices of people like Shane Claiborne and feeling the pressure of all these small emerging communities (some of which have grown into big, city-impacting churches like Imago Dei) that were getting it done in ways that their more-established and better-resourced churches weren't. 

All in all, I'm grateful for the impact of the Emerging Church on my life- while I feel like we've grown apart in some ways (I just need to see other movements... really, it's not you, it's me. Okay, it is kind of you), and while I feel like there's some significant tares in amongst all the wheat there, for today, I'm choosing to see and be thankful for the good. 

List December: Top Ten State Abbreviations

10. LA

9. OR

8. GA

7. ZA

6. PA

5. OH

4. MA

3. ME

2. OK

1. HI

List December: Top Ten Nicknames for Dustin

10. D-Ball

9. Dustball

8. D-Bag(by)

7. Dusty McDusterson

6. OchoCinco

5. He Who Must Not Be Named

4. Squinty

3. The Mailman

2. Dustin "Butterbean" Bagby

And the #1, Top Ten nickname for Dustin Bagby...

1. Dr Know

Interaction/Review- Tony Jones' "The Teaching of The Twelve"

“The Didache is the most important book you've never read,” starts Tony Jones, in his latest book, The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing & Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community.

And while Tony's examination of this ancient Christian manuscript is engaging and thoughtful, I just don't know if I'd go quite that far. I enjoyed reading this book- well-written, I think well-researched... but the main premise is something I find myself wanting to push back against somewhat.

The Didache, according to The Teaching of the Twelve, records "a primitive Christianity" of about the same era in which the synoptic Gospels were composed, and seemingly unfamiliar with the theology of the Apostle Paul. 

And in that, it's a helpful look at some of the rhythms of the early church. The question, of course, is what can/does that early Christianity mean for us today?

Tony attempts to answer that question as he examines the Didache, by also looking at a small, modern community of Christians who call themselves the Cymbrogi- a house church of sorts which includes Trucker Frank, a friend we've gotten to know from some of Tony's other works. 

The Cymbrogi take from the Didache a very praxis-oriented approach to their walk with Jesus. They are in search of that primitive Christianity that "emphasizes how you live."

Tony writes, "The Didache's vision of communal life in Christ is powerful and potentially transformative. For the Cymbrogi, the Didache's primitive rhythms of faith have changed them personally. Each one of them I've spoken to has professed that the raw, organic Christianity that they find in the Didache and now attempt to practice is exactly what they've been looking for all along." Tony continues, "The Didache offers something of an alternative to what many know of Christianity. The real power of the Didache is its ability to remind us of what is truly important in Christianity: showing the love of Jesus to the world."

Okay... Here's where I start to wonder. 

On Burger King Health Clinics and Christmas Humbug...

Two thoughts have collided for me today...

Today's newspaper contained some great news. Nearly $9million of federal stimulus money is flowing to Portland in the form of a grant to open a health care clinic in the middle of downtown for the poor. And the best part (at least in my mind)? It's taking an old, abandoned Burger King and transforming it into a one-stop medical center helping Portland's poor, homeless and mentally ill. 

I love the idea of using a place that once dispensed artery-clogging Whoppers and french fries, sugar drinks and all manner of other greasy, deep fried anti-nutrition (don't get me wrong- I LOVE all of that stuff- too much, in fact), and turning it into a place that does exactly the opposite- dispenses health, medicine... help. 

No doubt, when you look at the building, you'll still be able to tell it was a Burger King because of its very distinctive design. And yet- a whole different kind of impact with its presence. 

And all that made me think of Christmas. 

How?

I'm remembering when I first became aware of the "pagan" origins of Christian celebrations like Christmas and Easter. Discovering that early Christians had co-opted existing pagan celebrations was a bit of a shock. No Virginia, Santa Claus, much less Christmas celebrations isn't in the Bible.

But... those who look at that fact and decide that the responsible thing is to eschew celebrating Christmas altogether or just humbug about it (especially all the non-Jesusy parts) all season long really miss the point. 

Certainly- nearly all cultures and even religions have holidays around this time of year, mostly started to somehow celebrate the turn from shorter and shorter days to longer and longer ones. The move from darkness to light. 

And when the early Christians looked at that, it seems they had a really good idea...

There's no reason to think that Jesus was born on December 25th. We all know that. He was most likely born in the Spring sometime, because the shepherds were out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks- a Spring activity. But even though there's no reason to believe He was born then, there are great reasons to celebrate then. 

Whenever we bring the Gospel into a culture, we have a responsibility to contextualize it- to use the language, the symbols and the existing social structure (where it doesn't overtly contradict the Gospel) to explain the great Good News that God Himself has come to rescue and renew all of creation through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. 

So what to do when your culture has celebration hard-wired in? Fight that? Talk about humbug. 

But... A celebration where we focus on the coming of light into the world after a time of darkness? Hmmm... Sounds familiar. 

Sounds perfect, in fact.

Custom made for re-interpretation in light of the narrative of the Gospel and Jesus. Custom made to explain the coming of the Son of Righteousness into our darkness. 

Those early followers of Jesus who gave us things like Christmas, far from retreating from their culture simply repurposed some of the best parts of it. Like the solstice celebrations. And like I said- I love the irony of taking something meant to point to one thing and making it point to a better thing. 

"'The Christians stole it,' said Marie Elena Castle of Minneapolis, the 82-year-old founder of Atheists for Human Rights and an atheist activist for two decades."

Exactly. 

We took something that pointed at the sun and pointed it in a different direction. Towards the One who made the seasons, the sun and the moon, the one who came to give them real reason to celebrate. Jesus. 

So if you don't want to celebrate, that's fine. Your choice! But you're not just taking yourself out of a very Christian tradition, but a very human one as well.  

And don't tell me celebrating Advent isn't a great way to tell the Gospel story in a hundred different ways- to our kids in our Advent readings, to our neighbors in our hospitality and gift-giving (at a time when they are more open to that than any other time in the year), and especially to ourselves- maybe the ones who need most to hear "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people...Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."  

Abstinence...

 

Sorry...

Didn't get to the two posts I wanted to do today- the early church and an interaction with Tony Jones's new book on the Didache- but I have writing time tomorrow morning, so...

a FIRST CENTURY church?

Okay- in preparation for tomorrow's post on Tony Jones's new book on the Didache, an early Christian document, not found in the NT, let me ask this question...

At various times in my life, I've heard people express a desire to get back to a 1st Century kind of Christianity. To scrape away all the "additions" of the last centuries and recover a "pure" Christianity. 

So- here's my question- 

"If you could practice a faith identical to the earliest followers of Jesus, not yet 'crystalized', before the epistles of Paul, James, John, Jude and Peter, and even before at least 3 of the Gospels were written, would you? What would you gain? What would you lose?"

I'll take a stab at that tomorrow, along with some discussion of Tony's interesting new book. 

Why the Burgers on the TV Commercials ALWAYS look so dang good...

Mmmm... still raw...

 

Blog Tour: The Teaching of the Twelve with Tony Jones

  Next week I'll be participating in a blog book tour hosted by Paraclete Press. Here's what they have to say, and the schedule:

The Didache, an early handbook of an anonymous Christian community, "is the most important book you never read." It spells out a way of life for Jesus-followers, including how to show one another the love of God, how to practice the Eucharist, and how to take in wandering prophets.

Likely written before many of the New Testament books, this little-known text can enlighten the way that Christians are church today.

Tony Jones new book, The Teaching of the Twelve, unpacks this ancient document with insight and perspective, and traces the life of a small house church in Missouri that is trying to live according to its precepts.

Included in the book is a new, contemporary English translation of the Didache.

Join us on a blog tour of Tony Jones new book, The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community beginning the first Monday of Advent, November 30:

November 30: An introduction with Tony Jones

December 1: Chapter 1 - The Most Important Book You've Never Heard of - with Adam Walker Cleaveland at pomomusings and Thomas Turner at everydayliturgy

December 2: Chapter 3 - The Didache Community - Then and Now - with Ted Gossard at Jesus Community and Amy Moffitt at Without a Map

December 3: Chapter 4 - There Are Two Ways - with Tripp Fuller at homebrewedchristianity and with Holly Rankin-Zaher at happydaydeadfish

December 4: Chapter 5 - Sex, Money, and Other Means of Getting Along - with Chris Monroe at Paradoxology and Mike Todd at Waving or Drowning?

December 5: Chapter 6 - Living Together In Community - with Brother Maynard at Subversiveinfluence and Mike King

December 6: Chapter 7 - The End is Nigh - with Greg Arthur at Holinessreeducation.com and Mike Stavlund at Awakening

December 7: Epilogue - with Luke C. Miller and Carl McColman at The Website of Unknowing

December 8: Special Question - Is this text - The Didache - really so important? Why? Do we know that it was important to the earliest communities of Christians? with Jonathan Brink at Missio Dei

December 9: Special Question - Does the Didache teach or advise anything that substantively differs from what was decided at the earliest ecumenical church councils (such as Nicaea) with Dwight Friesen

December 10: Special Question - Why is the Didache relevant, in particular today? Is it more relevant today than it was, say 100 years ago? Why? withBob Hyatt

Shane Claiborne in Esquire Mag...

"To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn's Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn't quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don't know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, "God is not a monster." Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, "I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ." A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) antigay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That's the ugly stuff. And that's why I begin by saying that I'm sorry.

Now for the good news...

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209#ixzz0Yk4R9iNK

Top 10 Places that People think are real, but Aren't

10. Narnia

9. Metropolis

8. Gotham City

7. Boring, OR

6. "ChicagoLand"

5. Walla Walla, Wa

4. Azusa, CA

3. Rancho Cucamonga

2. Peoria, IL

1. Australia

Superman- the Musical!

You're welcome.