“Your heart is free,
Have the courage
to follow it.”
--from the movie, Braveheart
I’m well aware that it has been in vogue in Christian circles the past few years to quote from the movie, “Braveheart”, when speaking of issues of freedom. Mel Gibson’s fictionalized speech, where William Wallace challenges his Scottish comrades to fight for their freedom, has been quoted from pulpits, at youth camps, and especially at men’s meetings to rally church-people to go forth bravely and commit themselves to their faith as never before. Sadly, this message has followed the path of so many of the great tenets espoused by Christ (i.e. grace, mercy, and forgiveness for a start). For example, where Jesus proposed “setting the captives free”, church leaders have done their best to pervert His message and turn Christianity into a religion much like the Judaism controlled by the Pharisees in the first century.
Even so, this simple quote represents my reason for starting this web-log. It’s one thing to proclaim freedom, but another to actually do something about it. This meager beginning is my attempt to do something about it, to solicit ideas from others, to have my own thoughts, ideas and opinions scrutinized, and hopefully play a part in helping others gain freedom. My heart cries out for freedom. My soul longs for truth. I’m tired of clichés and catch-phrases, and even worse, perverted translations and interpretations of scripture that lock and chain us to an institution called church, rather than send us on an adventure where we can actually be THE church.
This blog is called “to be THE church”. For clarification’s sake, any references to that institution, that building, those meetings that people attend on Sunday mornings (okay, Saturdays for Adventists) will be simply church. The phrase, THE church, will refer to the people, the followers of Jesus, known in scripture as the body of Christ. To be THE church refers to understanding how Christ lives through us, naturally and organically, 24-7, without compartmentalizing our faith into 2-3 hour segments, without the constant tension within us that asks, “Is this a spiritual activity or is it a secular activity?” I know, I know … many that we know as THE church do attend church on Sunday, or Saturday, and possibly Wednesday night, as well. They sometimes give great sums of their hard-earned money to church (usually to pay for things like staff salaries, sound systems and air conditioning). Families are encouraged to attend together, and they spend countless amounts of time and energy there, but the moms and dads are usually in separate parts of the building from their kids. And the combined assets of these institutions, which pay no taxes, make it one of the wealthiest in the world (and we thought insurance companies were ripping us off). The question I want to see answered is, “Why?”
Even so, this simple quote represents my reason for starting this web-log. It’s one thing to proclaim freedom, but another to actually do something about it. This meager beginning is my attempt to do something about it, to solicit ideas from others, to have my own thoughts, ideas and opinions scrutinized, and hopefully play a part in helping others gain freedom. My heart cries out for freedom. My soul longs for truth. I’m tired of clichés and catch-phrases, and even worse, perverted translations and interpretations of scripture that lock and chain us to an institution called church, rather than send us on an adventure where we can actually be THE church.
This blog is called “to be THE church”. For clarification’s sake, any references to that institution, that building, those meetings that people attend on Sunday mornings (okay, Saturdays for Adventists) will be simply church. The phrase, THE church, will refer to the people, the followers of Jesus, known in scripture as the body of Christ. To be THE church refers to understanding how Christ lives through us, naturally and organically, 24-7, without compartmentalizing our faith into 2-3 hour segments, without the constant tension within us that asks, “Is this a spiritual activity or is it a secular activity?” I know, I know … many that we know as THE church do attend church on Sunday, or Saturday, and possibly Wednesday night, as well. They sometimes give great sums of their hard-earned money to church (usually to pay for things like staff salaries, sound systems and air conditioning). Families are encouraged to attend together, and they spend countless amounts of time and energy there, but the moms and dads are usually in separate parts of the building from their kids. And the combined assets of these institutions, which pay no taxes, make it one of the wealthiest in the world (and we thought insurance companies were ripping us off). The question I want to see answered is, “Why?”
4 comments:
Well, since we’re starting with movie quotes, you knew it wouldn’t be long before O Brother came out. “Hard times flush the chumps.” The simple prose of Everitt’s explanation as he watches the masses herd towards their baptism in the river, to me helps to answer your question of “Why?”. Hard times drive us to take extraordinary measures. Now how can that apply to the land of plenty that we find in the United States? Well, thanks to some creative interpretation, the church, as we see it formed in the United States today, has created the greatest of hard times in its manipulation and concentration on the end times. I don’t think I need to go about proving this point what with all of the doomsday preachers and End of Days fictional novels we see in our bookstores and movie theaters. I mean they even have the Left Behind series for children. We even give our children a steady diet of hell and fire and brimstone. So in lieu of true crises, the church today has created a frenzy based on a fascination with hell. It guides the actions, decisions, and beliefs of the followers of the church. Seeing that, it’s hard not to call them chumps being flushed out by imagined hard times.
But what if that wasn’t the point of Jesus’ message after all? What if Jesus never actually meant for us to look to a future experience as the Kingdom of Heaven? What if when Jesus said “The Kingdom of God is near” he meant it to be near in physical space and not time as we’ve seen preached so much. Another time Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven has been advancing since the time of John the Baptist. This speaks of a Kingdom that is here and amongst us, not one that is futuristic in nature. It can still be eternal, but can’t it also be a metaphor for how we’re supposed to live now. What if this type of metaphor also applies to the destruction spoken of concerning hell? What if that is merely meant to symbolize a life lived apart from the here-and-now Kingdom of God? If Jesus is right, then wouldn’t living a selfish life without giving regard to being the Kingdom feel like weeping, guilt, and gnashing of teeth? Wouldn’t this knowledge turn the entire church on its side? Wouldn’t that allow for more freedom in how we try to be this church? If you were no longer fearful of hell and damnation for thinking outside the box, wouldn’t you act with more freedom in the model of Jesus himself? I think it’s an important point to consider as we go about trying to figure out exactly what THE church is supposed to look like.
Some quotes from a book I'm reading in support of my last post.:
"The traditional approach to hell distracts people from justice (and injustice) on earth. It kind of pacifies people so they'll let injustice continue."
"There's no more effective power language than the language of hell and the devil."
"The religious establishment threatened marginal people with hell unless they submitted to their religious dominance. Jesus threatened the religious establishment with hell unless they showed compassion for the marginal people."
Also some quotes about the church from the same source:
"The church today is post-protestant. Part of that is that we're done protesting, saying the bad guys over there have it wrong and we here in our little circle have it right. That rhetoric distracts us from spiritual formation, and besides that it protects injustice."
"The purpose of the church is to spiritually form people to love God and others and themselves so that they can life to the full in God's kingdom, in the way of Jesus. We want to change the world, but that requires people who learn to be the revolution they want to see in the world."
"The Kingdom of God is the dream of God coming true when people harmonize their wills with God's will."
Jett,
Sounds like you are mad at the church, or are you mad at God?
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