Tuesday, July 16, 2002
Interesting timing . . .
I just finished meeting with someone who is concerned about some people who are choosing to leave the church for petty reasons. He doesn't get why they are making such a big deal out of small things, and wants to know if there is something deeper going on. The answer lies in a lack of maturity, and people becoming busybodies. I just talked about it in my sermon on Sunday. When we are passionate for God and growing, we don't sit idle and allow these silly things to hang us up.
As I ate my lunch, I surfed over to the
postmodern theology discussion group I'm in on
Yahoo! I found the following statement that says it way better than I could. Thanks to Brad (whoever you are).
I AM TIRED OF HEARING - "MY NEEDS AREN'T BEING MET - SO I AM GOING TO
A NEW CHURCH"
Here is a secret into my thought world: I think the modern Church is
in serious trouble - I think we aren't living very Christianly even
with the number of people going to church - I see alot of self-
absorbed consumption and very little sharing life going on and very
little transformation OCCURING.
Here is why I hold to a postmodern understanding. I am learning
something profoundly different from the postmodern thought leaders. I
can't find "truth" by myself - I need others in my life, I need
diversity, I need relationships in community to emerge the "truth" we
share.
I believe the original commandments indicate that God also wants us
to maintain relationships and to do nothing to harm the relationships
around us. I think I am learning that permanent relationships are the
MOST transformative things in our lives - and so I want to reconcile
these relationships and I want to be reconciled to God and others. I
can't tell you how much my life has been transformed by sharing life
with my family and the people in our spiritual community. It is in
sharing life and watching people live that we learn of values,
beliefs, passions, hopes, dreams, motivations, needs, desires, etc.
These aren't learned in didactic methods because many times they
can't be put into words.
Any
thoughts?
