Infinity and Beyond

“It’s ironic at times like this you pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
There’s bombs in the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, your clothes
My dad he’s got a lot of fear I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine
On the back, he hand-wrote a quote inside
When the rich wage war it’s the poor who die
Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
both scared and angry like “what did he say?”
Linkin Park - Hands Held High

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I have found myself watching the way  my generation process truth and life. I’m so full of skepticism, and distrust. Yet continuously we walk around acting and doing what will make us happy. As we watch the generation around us living to get rich, buying the next thing; we look at that and go “what’s the point”. Yet at the same moment we are more than comfortable enjoying the luxury of those realities. All that worthless junk has made us placidly comfortable, and we’re called to nothing more than entertainment.  Even now I entertain myself via the endless abyss of online entertainment. Yet meanwhile I find myself seeing the darkness of the world around me, and turning again to the numbness of “Something fun”, so I just don’t have to think or feel it.

I wonder how I’ve wandered around this long, and what’s next?  Should I keep asking the tough questions, and keep trying to direct my life in way that would hopefully make the world a better place.  Or in seeking to do “something meaningful” am I simply just finding another sitcom that will keep me hooked until it gets old. Only now its my life now, and when the harsh reality of the world kicks in, do I simply sit back and just turn the volume up.

Or Could there be more, could I find a new drama, a new adventure that doesn’t end like it always has. Maybe a grand finish, or a moment of redemption, or revolution… Maybe… just maybe I could wake up and not find reality so numb, but rather warm, bright and real. Not just another sitcom, or soap opera. But reality…  A life, that echoes into Eternity.

I’ve been gathering with a group of friends for the last few months. It’s been a great and challenging time (yo Reid, if you’re reading this).  We gather and have dinner, and just had some fun. The challenge we are now trying to figure out, or to grow in is the idea of intentionality.

As we gather we find ourselves wanting to delve into something more, or to seek community in a deeper sense of the ideal. The few close relationships within the group are healthy, and we are finding our identities, and in this new kind of community we are also finding a type of family.  As our journey’s and discoveries take us into this new type of life, we are still wondering, how do we live together with intentionality.  Or to pose the question more pointedly: How do we seek to be missional together?

Is it simply an individual endeavor of missionality, then shared with the group, as we succeed or fail.

Is it simply a group mentality, where we move and run together, cooperatively carrying the load of the mission.

Or is there a third way, that we can learn to be both individually missional, while still pursuing the revolution of the Kingdom together, as a purposed missional community.

Recently I read an article written by the professer of the conservative bible college, in which I recieved my bachelor’s degree. In this article this Doctor, gave his brief opinion on the Emerging Church movement.  While this so called “movement” has been around for years, and has been the movement and development of people’s genuine thoughts and ideas.  A steady stream of “defenders of the faith” have found themselves committed to “protecting the flock” against this so called plague.  As conservative doctors, and “teachers” seek to defend their students, I have begun to wonder WHY is does everyone get so defensive? (See Article at: http://www.issuesinperspective.com/2007/August/07aug18-19_3.cfm)

 I dont’ consider myself as part of the Emergent movement, when you define it as the cute, clique-ish, group of people looking to be cool, trendy or simply hip.  However with that said, I do see myself as a part of a group of people that are finding themselves largely unsatisfied with what traditional Christianity has offered, especially via its large buildings and gathering. As I have begun to move towards a more personal, and for me genuine faith; I am confronted with people calling that pluralistic, existential, or even simply selfish. 

As I have listened to and learned from helpful writers such as Brian McLaren, McManus, Wallis, and many more thoughtful followers of Christ, I find myself gravitating to their writing.  While the “Old Gaurd” may find themselves unsure of McLaren’s search for a more holistic Jesus, I find myself gravitating to such a broad and collective view. While I realise the dangers of letting myself become the final definer of truth; I have come to grips that my faith, while shared in community, must be something that I own and that means everything TO ME. 

Dr. E said: “any manifestation of this movement that no longer clearly preaches personal salvation, downplays the deity and uniqueness of Jesus Christ, permits the social gospel to supersede a believer’s vital relationship with Jesus, and teaches that knowing God and His truth is impossible, is to be soundly rejected. ”   The struggle for me is that as long as this style of thinking retains its power, I wonder how much the Kingdom can advance. While I don’t doubt the sincerity of these believers faith, I do wonder how we contradict our own message?   When Jesus message of the Gospel, and Kingdom speak loudly and clearly about its social message; I wonder how we can say “permitting the social gospel to supercede a…relationship with Jesus”.   Because while I won’t say knowing God and truth is impossible, I will say that my relationship with Jesus HAS and WILL profoundly move me towards that social gospel.  When it comes to my understanding of how Christ related to his disciples it was in his call to progress his Kingdom.   And if that’s relative, subjective,  then I guess I’ll just have to be emergant, or I’ll have to suffer through being a postmodern thinker that follows Jesus in todays landscape, and maybe doing so by spreading that Social Gospel!