Posts Tagged church
Jesus, the Easter Bunny and a Priest walk into a bar mitzvah…
Posted by Brad in Just as I am on April 13th, 2009
Easter Sunday presented itself once again this year, rising, as it were, through the ashes of winter and early spring. We speak of the easter bunny, the chocolates, the candy, the hunt and the resurrection in the same breath.
I’m not a heathen, nor am I a zealot, so church attendance this year, at least for me, was an optional adventure. But we started attending a new church, one with, as we discovered, a much looser interpretation of the easter story than we were used to. The resurrection, in the words of the minister, is the reminder that in our crucifixion moments - in the midst of our deepest trials, we can overcome. The spirit of Jesus’ memory appeared no less than 14 times throughout the gospels. His ideals were so present and real he was truly ‘re’-membered. Brought back into their membership. I’m not sure how this presents itself as a biblical truth, nor how someone of the cloth can hold to this interpretation and build a career on it, but for whatever reason, I was moved and inspired more in that sermon than in any other in recent memory. (Granted, that’s not saying a whole lot, but let’s give kudo’s and credit, even when it’s only a three of a kind beating an ace high).
So the bible wanes on, the memory of resurrection rises up and the stone that could not hold back the spirit of the prophet, the rebel and the protester rolls away.
Happy easter weekend to everyone above, below and in the fold.
“The coming evangelical collapse”, an article from Michael Spencer of the Christian Science monitor.
There was a pretty interesting article over on The Christian Science Monitor about the potential demise and collapse of the evangelical movement.
Here’s an excerpt that highlights one of the reasons, according to the author (aka Internet Monk), that this collapse is impending and unstoppable:
We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.
Take a second to read the entire article. I’d be interested to know some opinions and criticisms.
Oh, and Christianity Today’s Mark Galli has posted what I think is a fair response from someone in his position.
As senior managing editor of Christianity Today — whose masthead reads “a magazine of evangelical conviction” — it would seem that I have a vested interest in the survival of evangelicalism. Yes and no. On the one hand, as a student of church history, I can also predict that cultural evangelicalism will collapse, not likely in ten years, but collapse it will. On the other hand, evangelicalism will never collapse, at least not until the final altar call.
It’s fair, but it’s also kind of missing the point I think. Evangelicalism (not a redefinition to mean Biblical Christianity in whatever form it currently exists) has become a polarizing movement that aligns itself with political ideologies and attempts at mass market appeal. It can’t market it’s way out of the situation with clever commercials or radical rebranding or awesome alliterations.
But then, I’m probably missing the point too. What do you think?
Dear Church
Posted by Brad in Just as I am on March 4th, 2009
I don’t believe in God anymore. And it’s no longer an angry, reaction to the piety and filth that fills the pews on a Sunday morning. I just honestly do not believe there could be a God who acts the way you describe him. That people who don’t believe, won’t believe or can’t believe are created in God’s image, but destined for an eternity of suffering. I don’t believe, or won’t believe, and dear church, in part, I have you to thank.
I’m a bit scared of where my new path will lead, but I’m also relieved that I can seek to better humanity out of an honest desire to bring justice to our world rather than a burdened compulsion to slather empty evangelicalism on an unsuspecting crowd.
But just in case, if you’re out there god, can you hear me?