Guess whose back...
...back again. Derrick's back. Tell a friend.
Sorry for the Eminem intro.
Anyway, I'm back in California and have been now for a week. It's been a weird adjustment period. The fact of the matter is that SFTS, for good and for bad, is exactly as I left it. I, however, feel very different. I feel restless. Insomnia might have a little to do with that, as might the residual hangover I get from taking unisom. However, I have a feeling that deeper things are also at work.
I'm realizing now that I had a fantastic summer. Even on my worst days of internship this summer, I was happy to be where I was and to be doing what I was doing. That's not necessarily a reflection on Portland, though Portland does indeed rock! It is more of a reflection on doing ministry. I love doing ministry. Even better? This summer I did something I haven't done in a pretty long time. I made new friends that...wait for it... aren't Christian! That may have actually been the best part of the whole thing.
Two of those aforementioned non-christian friends came to church my last Sunday in Portland and I had a bit of internal struggle over that. On one hand, I was pleased that they were close enough with me and attracted enough by things I had shared with them about my faith that they would come to hear me preach. On the other hand, this was the same church where they said the pledge and did the patriotic hymns before the fourth. I was nervous about my sermon and the environment and I was struck by how much I don't believe that traditional Sunday worship is a good entrance ramp for non-christians. So much of the churchiness we do is completely foreign to post-christianity. Some of it is foreign to me still as a product of the non-liturgical church. Non-christians need entryways into faith. Most Sunday services are really just made to preach to the choir, so to speak. That might be why so many are dying. Realizing that I am an evangelist, these questions have become infinitely more important to me. I realize I didn't ask a question yet, but the question is how do we create appropriate entryways into faith for post-christians, former christians, and non-christians?
Now there is another part of me that is asking if that question is appropriate, especially in light of current events. Well, yes, the question is appropriate, but I also have come to what may seem like a very obvious conclusion: there will never be world peace without religious pluralism. Feel free to disagree, I'd love talk back on this one. I have to say this is a bit of a bummer for me as one who has been raised to believe that religious pluralism is bad. Attempts to promote one faith over another always turn violent. Yes, I believe the truth of Christ. I believe it to my core. To the point that I would die for it? Well, maybe, but I'd rather not and I don't believe that's the true test of religious conviction. I could die for anything, but the better question is what am I willing to live for. The point that I am meandering around is that my conviction of Christian truth is by no means a license to denigrate other faiths and other people's convictions, especially if they hold their beliefs any where near as closely as I hold mine. That's a tough one for me.
On to lighter subjects. I went to the DMV yesterday to register the car I was given by one of my supervisors. Going to a DMV in Marin county is quite eye opening. There were alot of very attractive people there. The man who greeted me and gave me my number was a handsome middle aged guy and it just went up from there. I've been in a DMV where there was maybe one attractive woman getting a new picture taken or something, but the sheer volume of attractive people at the DMV yesterday was staggering to me and obviously I found it noteworthy. The DMV, in general, brings out the worst in people. They get agitated and antsy. Being that I'm taking time off until school starts, I was in no hurry and since I didn't have the anxiety of passsing some kind of test hanging over my head, this might have been one of the more pleasant trips to the DMV I've ever had. I just wish everyone else would have taken the time out to notice all of the pretty people around them and maybe they would have been less agitated. Which brings me to my point: I noticed people around me because I wasn't busy or in a hurry. Some of the people around me weren't attractive, but they seemed more so because I wasn't a big ball of stress. Think about that.
More later...
Sorry for the Eminem intro.
Anyway, I'm back in California and have been now for a week. It's been a weird adjustment period. The fact of the matter is that SFTS, for good and for bad, is exactly as I left it. I, however, feel very different. I feel restless. Insomnia might have a little to do with that, as might the residual hangover I get from taking unisom. However, I have a feeling that deeper things are also at work.
I'm realizing now that I had a fantastic summer. Even on my worst days of internship this summer, I was happy to be where I was and to be doing what I was doing. That's not necessarily a reflection on Portland, though Portland does indeed rock! It is more of a reflection on doing ministry. I love doing ministry. Even better? This summer I did something I haven't done in a pretty long time. I made new friends that...wait for it... aren't Christian! That may have actually been the best part of the whole thing.
Two of those aforementioned non-christian friends came to church my last Sunday in Portland and I had a bit of internal struggle over that. On one hand, I was pleased that they were close enough with me and attracted enough by things I had shared with them about my faith that they would come to hear me preach. On the other hand, this was the same church where they said the pledge and did the patriotic hymns before the fourth. I was nervous about my sermon and the environment and I was struck by how much I don't believe that traditional Sunday worship is a good entrance ramp for non-christians. So much of the churchiness we do is completely foreign to post-christianity. Some of it is foreign to me still as a product of the non-liturgical church. Non-christians need entryways into faith. Most Sunday services are really just made to preach to the choir, so to speak. That might be why so many are dying. Realizing that I am an evangelist, these questions have become infinitely more important to me. I realize I didn't ask a question yet, but the question is how do we create appropriate entryways into faith for post-christians, former christians, and non-christians?
Now there is another part of me that is asking if that question is appropriate, especially in light of current events. Well, yes, the question is appropriate, but I also have come to what may seem like a very obvious conclusion: there will never be world peace without religious pluralism. Feel free to disagree, I'd love talk back on this one. I have to say this is a bit of a bummer for me as one who has been raised to believe that religious pluralism is bad. Attempts to promote one faith over another always turn violent. Yes, I believe the truth of Christ. I believe it to my core. To the point that I would die for it? Well, maybe, but I'd rather not and I don't believe that's the true test of religious conviction. I could die for anything, but the better question is what am I willing to live for. The point that I am meandering around is that my conviction of Christian truth is by no means a license to denigrate other faiths and other people's convictions, especially if they hold their beliefs any where near as closely as I hold mine. That's a tough one for me.
On to lighter subjects. I went to the DMV yesterday to register the car I was given by one of my supervisors. Going to a DMV in Marin county is quite eye opening. There were alot of very attractive people there. The man who greeted me and gave me my number was a handsome middle aged guy and it just went up from there. I've been in a DMV where there was maybe one attractive woman getting a new picture taken or something, but the sheer volume of attractive people at the DMV yesterday was staggering to me and obviously I found it noteworthy. The DMV, in general, brings out the worst in people. They get agitated and antsy. Being that I'm taking time off until school starts, I was in no hurry and since I didn't have the anxiety of passsing some kind of test hanging over my head, this might have been one of the more pleasant trips to the DMV I've ever had. I just wish everyone else would have taken the time out to notice all of the pretty people around them and maybe they would have been less agitated. Which brings me to my point: I noticed people around me because I wasn't busy or in a hurry. Some of the people around me weren't attractive, but they seemed more so because I wasn't a big ball of stress. Think about that.
More later...
I was just about to disagree with you about worship being a good entry into faith for non-Christians when I read your impression of worship as something we do "preaching to the choir" as it were. I agree that preaching to the choir, maintenance oriented churches etc... don't make a good impression on non-Christians with their worship, but at that point it is questionable in my mind whether it qualifies as worship. You see, I consider what Peter does in Acts when, just after receiving the spirit, he proclaims the gospel and thousands are converted - I consider that worship. He's giving a sermon. In fact, I don't see how one really becomes a Christian at all if not in worship. Participating in small groups, having a spiritual life, even doing concrete service in the community - none of these make one a Christian. Worshiping God in Christ through the Holy Spirit... THAT makes one a Christian.
Posted by
Aric Clark |
9:50 PM
It is really nice to have you back in San Anselmo - changed or no.
Posted by
Aric Clark |
9:51 PM