(e)mergent Voyageurs

Every Monday night during the DTS, the guys get together for evening of hanging out and fun. Every so often we will play games with each other. This week the guys taught be the old school game Stock Ticker, a game where you play the stock market to win top dollar and the title of winner. As we played, it reminded me of the cut throat tactics of Monopoly, whose very name explains the point of the game- domination and control.

As I was reflecting on these games, it dawned on me how these games taped into the prevalent worldview that guides our lives here in the Western world. Consumerism, education, even the legal system, is built upon fiercely adversarial models of defeating, conquering, overcoming, monopolizing, controlling, etc. While often more subtle (though sometime not subtle at all), it has also defined how we approach our faith and our missional vocation as the Church. Even our language exposes an almost militant dominionism and arrogant paternalism towards the world which we are called to love and serve.

While some might argue that Scripture often uses military language, we must recognize several influencing factors within that. First, they are rarely as prevalent in Scripture as they are in our language. Second, it is used in Scripture most commonly in reference to our relationship or response to the spiritual dynamics around us. Third, and perhaps most important, is the fact that the understanding and dynamics of militancy in Scripture are rooted in large part of the historical and cultural context they were written out of. This means that our own understanding of militancy, especially in the Western world, cannot be easily equated with Biblical references of this type.

That being said, the area where this has perhaps been most damaging is in our commitment to fulfilling our missional vocation as the Body of Christ. Along with the already mentioned dominionism and paternalism of Western Christianity, colonialism also deeply shaped the Churches ideas and actions towards the world and our mission in it. When I considered the result missiological stance of the Church, a word popped into my head that sadly and aptly describes what we have created: Missiopoly.

I have come to realize, as a result, that in the current renewal in the Christian commitment to Missionality, overcoming Missiopoly must be a central and intentional aspect of that shift. If we attempt to be genuinely missional without fiercely confronting and dismantling this principality of domination, we turn a blind eye to the parasite that will destroy those very efforts. We cannot underestimate the disintegrative impact of this force on the past, present and potential future of the Church.

The great danger in doing this, of course, is failing to see who or what our enemy is. As committed and well-intentioned Christians are deeply invested into this system of Missiopoly, we cannot attack them as the enemy, but rather as fellow suffers. We must find ways of being ruthless with the power of this insidious worldview while being gracious and patient and humble with those who are a part of it. Perhaps this is our greatest challenge.

So I put the questions to you:

Where do you see the impact of Missiopoly in the Church? How can we be intentional in our fight against it without attacking the people who are invested in it?

Emerging Church, Missional

(What Is The Gospel? – Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4)

It has been quite some time since my last installment, so I wanted to continue with my series on “What Is The Gospel?” (Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4). While I would encourage you to read the former posts, let me give a brief summary to catch you up:

In Part 1, inspired by scot McKnight’s excellent book “Embracing Grace”, I proposed a very general understanding of the Gospel – “The Gospel is the glory of the Triune God made manifest in His work to reconcile every person to union with Himself, communion with others, to fullness of life, and to harmony with Creation, in the context of community for the good of all.” (I have since altered that definition slightly to “Gospel is the work of the Trinitarian God to reconcile every person to union with God, to communion with others, to fullness with self, and to harmony with Creation, in the context of community for the glory of God and the good of all”).

Part 2 explores the meaning of being created in God image, which is primarily Trinitarian. The perichoretic unity of the Godhead should be reflected in the restored and celebrated relationship of man with God, self, others and Creation. The work of Christ seeks to invite us, through the cross, to find restoration to His intentions for us by resurrecting as His Body.

Exploring the example of Saint Patrick, Part 3 looks to the pattern God calls us through- moving out of our “hidden nakedness” the masks and barriers that deny our brokenness and need for God, through the chaos and suffering of dying to self on the Cross; through the emptiness and release of the tomb; into the new life of the Resurrection into the share reality of His Body; filled and empower together by the Spirit to bring the message, promise and experience of restoration and transformation to a world in need of it.

In Part 4 we see how rooted our place in Creation is, as intended by God. Our commitment to Creation is not a mere stewardly environmentalism, but rather a sacramental ecology where we Creation as the medium in which our own relationship must take place. Further, rather than allowing our worldviews to be shaped by the mechanistic patterns of our “creations”, we see God’s intentional truth invested into the fabric of His Creation.

With that foundation set, I want to explore the statement “fullness with self” (earlier called “fullness of life”). It is here that I want to affirm the place and importance of the individual in this picture. In a world of rampant individualism in desperate need of true community, we can be at risk of over-reacting in the opposite extreme. One of the most fundamental contribution that the Judeo-Christian tradition brings to world is the value of the individual. When God covenanted with Abraham, for example, it was done in a time where human life had value in the eyes of god-kings and their ruthless armies. It was a monumental shift (see “The Gifts Of The Jews” by Thomas Cahill for an excellent development of these ideas).

Rick Warren said, “Spiritual maturity is becoming like Jesus in the way we think, feel and act.” In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is guided to the Emerald City by three companions- the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Cowardly Lion. It was only in the last few years that I began to see the significance of each character, as they represented defining aspects of Dorothy’s own identity. The Scarecrow needed a brain- mind; the Tinman needed a heart- emotions; and the Lion lacked the courage to act- will. Though somewhat simplistic, the mind, will and the emotions can be seen as what are core to our souls. Based on this, I would define fullness with self (not to be mistaken with “full of yourself”) to be a God-centered harmony of the soul- that is the mind, will and emotions.

Gil Bailie once said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” While obviously needing qualification and balance, I believe it holds a core truth. Dying to self does not mean a denial of individuality or personal identity, but to the disintegrative nature of selfishness, etc. Fullness of life comes, in part, through that God-centered unity of the soul.

The following exercise is quite involved, but can help serve as a discipline of the imagination in exploring that fullness of life. I would encourage you to spend some time over the next week(s) to give it a shot. I call it a “Soul Audit”- a tool to help you engage with who you are, who you hope to be and imagining the possibilities of what could be. The follow is a list of very personal and specific questions that will serve as a reflective tool in your life and faith. Starting with the foundational question “If I were living my life to its greatest potential, what would it look like?”, the follow-up questions draw into greater detail.

You can do this exercise in many ways. You could answer the foundational question in the time frame of next year, 5 years or 10 years from now. You might even want to do this more than one time frame (which I think is helpful). The level of time, thought and energy you put into the answer will determine how much you get out of it. Be realistic with your answers, but also be hopeful and visionary. If you do the exercise, I’d love to hear what you thought of the results.

“If I were living my life to its greatest potential, what would it look like?”

Hands (Your Will)
-”What would I be doing? Where? With whom?”
-”How would others perceive me? How would they describe my life?”
-”How would what I’d be going be most different from now?

Heart (Your Emotions)
-”How would I feel about myself? How would I feel differently than now?”
-”How would I feel about the what, where and who in my life then?”
-”What would I be most passionate about?”

Head (Your Mind)
-”How would my think about myself be different?”
-”What lies or fears would not longer be keeping me back?

Hands/Heart/Head
-”What negative or unhealthy actions, feelings & thoughts would be gone that are here now?”
-”What positive and healthy actions, feelings & thoughts would be here that aren’t here now?”

-What would your family say the driving force of your life is?
-Your friends? Your pastor or spiritual leaders say?
-What would you say it is? What would you WANT it to be?

Emerging Church, Missional, Self