Faith's Edge

This was written by one of my classmates/colleagues/friends here at the seminary in response to my last post. He is aware I am doing this, so I'm not just being a jerk:

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.

Okay, with all respect to my amigo Aric, this rubbed me the wrong way the minute I read it. It isn't even that I necessarily disagree with it 100% (though I suspect I might). It was more to do with the worship-centric approach to the Christian life that us reformed types tend to have. There are a couple of issues here, one of which is how we define the word "worship". That might actually be more where the issue lies, but I'm thinking on my feet here, so bear with me.

At its root the english "worship" comes from the term "worth ship", in other words, it is about how we express God's value and worth in our lives. That is a definition that happen to like and try to live by. in particular, I like it because it is broad. Anything I do born out of gratitude for any gift that God has bestowed is worship. When that happens corporately, then you have a "worship service" or "worship gathering" (I prefer the latter).

I agree with Aric that what Peter did after the Pentecost experience was worship for Peter. Peter, after his experience of the risen Jesus Christ, dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel. What greater expression of worship could their be? For those of us who go into ministry, we are demonstrating God's worth in our lives by dedicating ourselves to the process of becoming more educated and more compassionate ministers. I also think this is true for Jane and Joe Churchgoer. They dedicate their time, money, and energy as an expression of God's worth in their lives. Hopefully, anyways.

No problem so far, right? What I think postmodenity has done has forced us to think about how people get from the point A of post-christendom to the point B of worship and that is primarily where I question Aric's assumption. I apologize if this is just an issue of semantics, but I think you have to have the experience of Christ before you can actually worship Him. That experience could certainly happen at a worship gathering, by no means is that necessarily the case and I'm not even sure that worship services are primarily where people have their first experience of Christ anymore. I think the post-christian generation is more likely to experience Christ through relationships being built than through the a worship service. Granted, the building of that relationship might be considered an act of worship by the person modeling Christ, but it certainly doesn't have to happen in the context of a worship service.

I hope my distinction between "worship" and "worship service/gathering" makes sense. If it doesn't, ask me to clarify and I'll think of someway to do that.

See, I do recognize the need for some amount of "maintenance-oriented" preaching and worship. I think I've been receiving that this week at chapel. But I don't think our worship gatherings are oriented to be the entry points into fatith that a post-christian generation needs. That's a broad generalization, but let's face it, generalizations are easier!

I think one of the pitfalls of having a worship gathering be someone's intro to faith is that emotionalism becomes involved. By that I mean, you go to a worship service and experience a certain emotion that may actually lead you to make some kind of "decision for Christ". However, what often results is an attempt to maintain that emotional high. That's often the downfall of more charismatic worship expressions. Again, gross generalization.

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that I favor less of the hard sell in terms of evangelism and more of a soft sell. I think our worship services are setup to hard sell Christianity whereas when we demonstrate Christ in our words, deeds, and relationships (which takes an investment of time and energy) people who are the outside of our ecclesiastic circles get a fuller picture of Christ and what it means to follow Him.

Commence dialogue...

Besides being the last bastion of incoherent stream of consciousness, my blog will also become a place where information and reflections for my new internship will appear.

Welcome to those of you from Mission Bay Community Church that may be visiting. In case you are wondering who this mysterious new intern of yours really is, allow myself to introduce...myself.

I have lived most of my life in or around the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I am twenty-six. I have been married for three years to an incredible woman named Marnie. She and I met at an urban ministry called the Pittsburgh Project. The Project is a community based nonprofit urban ministry that does home repair for vulnerable homeowners and youth programs for urban youth. I worked there from 2000 to 2004. It is a place you will hear me talk about quite a bit. It was there that I had my faith renewed by seeing people put actions to their faith. It was there that I felt my call to ministry. As I've already mentioned, I met my wife there and I've made some of best friends there. It is a place that feels like home to me.

I did my undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh in film studies. I am currently in my third and final year at San Francisco Theological Seminary working towards my MDiv. (Masters of Divinity - cool name, huh?)

Marnie is a social worker, she counsels students at a Marin County high school. She's fluent in spanish. She is also, I might add, awesome!

My interests, other than Marnie, are film, music (I love jazz!), football (Go Steelers!!!), television, books (but only in small doses), and beer. Yes, I include beer as an interest.

Last thing, I had my faith revitalized at the Pittsburgh Project. I had my hope for the church revitalized at a place called the Open Door. That's where I got introduced to the ideas of the emerging church and missional church. If those things raise questions for you, I'd love to at least give you my take on them. I would also point you to the blogs of the Lead Pastor BJ Woodworth, and John Creasy who also ministers there. Both have great things to say about life, faith, and the church.

That's a little about me. Feel free to post. Ask questions. Make comments. Whatever. I'll be around.

...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...

Yesterday I went through an experience that I was told would be beneficial by one of my supervisors. I had folks evaluate my sermon after I preached this Sunday. She was right, the experience was beneficial. Beneficial because I now know that I never want to have another sermon evaluated by a group of people ever again. As I have heard repeated often this summer, where two or three presbyterians are gathered together, you will have four or five opinions. Some people REALLY appreciate the pace at which I preach ( which has deliberately become pretty slow) some people REALLY didn't like that leave so much space inbetween thoughts. Ugh! The best comment I got: "A sermon should be like a miniskirt, short of enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the subject." Nothing else, so I'm not sure if my sermon yesterday was too long, too short, or was in fact the perfect mini. Oh well. All I really gained from the experience is the reaffirmation that I can't please everyone. I knew that, but it is now abundantly clear.

Anyway, sorry I haven't been a very good blogger as of late. Blame my wife. She distracts me! (best distraction ever!) There has been plenty to write about and once I get out of here, I will begin the process of doing some hardcore reflection on this summer.

I can share a couple of things briefly. Despite the worry that being out here would push me more to the liberal side of things, I would have to confess that the opposite has happened. Getting away from SFTS has made me realize how seperated from mainstream religion the seminary is. It has also made me realize that I have not seperated from my evangelical roots nor do I wish to distance myself from the term "evangelical". After all, Jim Wallis (one of my few remaining heroes) still considers himself evangelical. The bottom line is I think people need to know Christ. That's what I'm in this for. I also think people need to be loved into that knowledge, not beat over the head with religion.

We had a discussion on the emerging church last Sunday with some congregants from the churches. One of the participants of the conversation made the comment that many of the emerging churches he has seen here in Portland tend to have a conservative lean to them. That is, conservative in terms of theology. I have no problem with that and that is probably why the emerging church appeals to where I am right now, it is "conservative" theology (you know, the whole Jesus was God's son, died and rose from the dead and the Bible's a good way to know what God is up to kinda thinking) coupled with a huge emphasis on social justice. So the conservative leaning in that sense doesn't bother me. There's also some emphasis in evangelism. Gee, that doesn't sound bad.

I've discovered (re-discovered) that I really enjoy talking about my faith with the unchurched (or the "Not-Yet-Christian" as Frost and Hirsch refer to them in "The Shaping of Things to Come") People in Portland are open to talking about faith if you're not gonna be all judgey about it. (That's right, judgey!) Evangelism, in my mind, is just about loving people enough to tell them about something that has made a huge benficial difference in your life.

I also like doing the whole incarnational thing. The fact of the matter is, I don't really like church and don't think it is the best place to do ministry. It's an okay place to worship God, but not a good place to do ministry. Pubs, coffee shops, gardens, worksites, hospitals, homes...those are good places to do ministry, in my humble opinion.

Ah, which brings me to the last thing I wanted to write about. I've come to the conclusion that most of us blog out of complete narcissism. I haven't been writing in my blog alot, but I have been reading a bunch of them. We're really quite egotistical, us bloggers. A bit self-absorbed, I would say. Note: I am including myself in that. This feeds my ego. And why not? On my blog, I'm right. You disagree? Post something and I can delete it! Fantastic!

Well, I need to go. If you wouldn't mind taking a second to tell me what you thought of today's post...nevermind.