Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Forgiving the Church
I recently finished Dan Kimball's They Like Jesus but not the Church, and I was surprised by how much I identified with it. In fact, I was a little concerned that I identified so strongly with the comments made by those outside the church about the ways in which they are critical of it. I was struck by Henri Nouwen's statement "When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the church." (253) I don't think I would use the word "hate" for how I feel about the church, but I definitely feel that my attitude toward the body of Christ lately has been affecting my spiritual life. And when I say this, I don't mean my local church, but rather the general evangelical culture which propagates the stereotypes mentioned by Kimball. I know this is a personal issue that I need to work through and seek forgiveness and understanding. I just wonder if anyone else identifies with me.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Okay, so I haven't posted for a while. That may possibly have something to do with traveling a lot over Christmas and New Year's, and then upon returning home having to immediately get our house ready to stage for putting on the market.
And yes, I am currently reading two books. The first (which I've had "on the night table" for an embarrassingly long time), They Like Jesus but not the Church, has been quite interesting and thought-provoking. I think it is a great book for all Christians to read, especially those who want a better perspective on what those outside the church think of us. It is so refreshing to find a deep Christian thinker and pastor who admits that many are critical of the church for good reasons, and who doesn't write them off as people who just don't understand because they are lost, going to hell, etc. We need to take an honest look at ourselves and the image that others have of us and learn from this. Maybe there are some things we need to change, and can change, while not compromising our faith.
The other, Solomon Among the Postmoderns, is a book I couldn't wait to get my hands on since I first heard the Mars Hill Audio Journal interview with Peter Leithart a few months back. And it hasn't disappointed! Leithart draws a fascinating comparison between Solomon's sentiment that life is vanity, a chasing after the wind ("vapor"), and some of the key attitudes of postmodernism: "Modernity is the civilization that attempted, with quite astonishing successes but also blatant failures, to manage and shepherd the vapor of time, society, and nature. Postmodernity is vapor's revenged, the recognition of modernity's failures and an embrace of the fragmentation and dissolution of politics, selves, language, life." (39) Perhaps there are some biblically-founded elements within the postmodern recognition that we do not ultimately control the universe and should not attempt to, no matter how advanced we become technologically or otherwise.
And yes, I am currently reading two books. The first (which I've had "on the night table" for an embarrassingly long time), They Like Jesus but not the Church, has been quite interesting and thought-provoking. I think it is a great book for all Christians to read, especially those who want a better perspective on what those outside the church think of us. It is so refreshing to find a deep Christian thinker and pastor who admits that many are critical of the church for good reasons, and who doesn't write them off as people who just don't understand because they are lost, going to hell, etc. We need to take an honest look at ourselves and the image that others have of us and learn from this. Maybe there are some things we need to change, and can change, while not compromising our faith.
The other, Solomon Among the Postmoderns, is a book I couldn't wait to get my hands on since I first heard the Mars Hill Audio Journal interview with Peter Leithart a few months back. And it hasn't disappointed! Leithart draws a fascinating comparison between Solomon's sentiment that life is vanity, a chasing after the wind ("vapor"), and some of the key attitudes of postmodernism: "Modernity is the civilization that attempted, with quite astonishing successes but also blatant failures, to manage and shepherd the vapor of time, society, and nature. Postmodernity is vapor's revenged, the recognition of modernity's failures and an embrace of the fragmentation and dissolution of politics, selves, language, life." (39) Perhaps there are some biblically-founded elements within the postmodern recognition that we do not ultimately control the universe and should not attempt to, no matter how advanced we become technologically or otherwise.
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