WWJD? NO! How about Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World

I am currently in conversation with several churches about being their senior pastor. I only left my last senior pastorate five months ago...As I have had opportunity over the last few months and years to visit several churches, preach and consult in several churches and look out over the landscape of the the US Church, there are several trends that continue to disturb me to the deepest core of my being as a Christian and as a pastor, namely 1.) the great emphasis that is placed upon managing, running and stragegizing today's church, as if the Father's business of which Jesus spoke about when he went to the temple at age 12 and the call of Jesus toward the end of his life when he cleaned out the temple because it was no longer a "house of prayer" can be dismissed and/or ignored by those who lead in the church today; 2.) the great need to provide programming so church people will have something to do and not be bored, even if it has little or nothing to do with following Jesus Christ; 3.) the deepest desire for everyone to feel good about themselves and seeing the church's role to be oriented towards telling people everything is ok, when our sin and brokenness is so evident and God's call to repent of, offer confession and receive forgiveness for our sin (individual and corporate) is at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I agree with Eugene Peterson that one of, if not the most important things the church has to say before God, to one another and to the world "your sin is forgiven in Jesus name."

Yet I am not surprised. Several years ago Aladair MacIntyre gave voice to why this was happening in western culture and in the western church in his book AFTER VIRTUE. My friend Jonathan Wilson (Carey Theological College in Vancouver, BC) brings it more down to earth and everyday in his book LIVING FAITHFULLY IN A FRAGMENTED WORLD. He asserts that when our society becomes as fragmented as it has, often due to a lack of rootedness in history and memory and a loss of purpose within the Christian story, THREE characters become the new "high priests" of that culture, including the encultured church culture...The Rich Aesthete who possesses "a surplus of financial and social resources" yet lives a "bored life" and seeks to alleviate the boredom by manipulating others for their own pleasure and well being...The Therapist who plays out our culture's acceptance and reinforcement of the private feelings and values of the individual to the detriment of the community...The Manager who seeks to govern our corporate/comunal life by achieiving maximum bureaucratic efficiency without regard to means or ends (getting best bang for buck).

I think one of the great challenges of being a Christian and a pastor is living in the way of Jesus Christ within this kind of world. Will we address the destructive nature of living fragmented, compartmentalized lives? Will we address the boredom that comes when we madly pursue the life of the aesthete (Isn't this why Desperate Housewives and its over the top caricatures of suburbia is so enticing to watch while not realizing it is a send up of suburban boredom?)? Will we address the pure narcissism of the pursuit of the therapeutic "I'm OK your OK and even if I'm not tell me I am" mentality? Will we address what happens when we think we can manage everything through just being a bit more "effective" and making sure we are always checking the "bottom line"?

At the end of MacIntyre's book he calls for a new monasticism and for the rise of a new generation of St Benedicts to lead. Wilson's book points us in the right direction for what that might look like if the church pays attention and desires to be and become a truly "living tradition" ("an historically extended, socially embodied movement" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God and its coming). That is what I am excited about...a new monasticism within the church that sees life together as living out The Cost of Discipleship (again read Dietrich Bonhoeffer) before Go, with one another and for the sake of the world.

The world is looking for an alternative reality to be lived out. It is the reality of the kingdom of God and its coming that really matters. The Kingdom of God is not a compartmentalized life but a life fully integrated with the triune God, the people of God and our purpose in the world. The Kingdom of God is never boring but a thrilling ride with the God of the universe. The Kingdom of God is not content with an I'm Ok and so are you. We know it isn't true. The heart of the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus was the kingdom of God is at hand Repent (change). The Kingdom of God cannot be managed. It is wild. Boundless, Free. Now doesn't that make your heart and soul leap? It does for me! How about for you?

Comments

[Neil]

Amen!

[Haley Ballast]

Amen!! Thank you Pastor Bryan.

[Brian Moss]

Thanks for sharing this. All the best as you move forward on the journey. I look forward to hearing all about it!

[Allen Randall]

Thanks for your thoughts about how we are live out our life-in-Christ in the context of our world and its popluar/shifting culture. Just doing "successful church" doesn't measure up, I don't think, to the depth of the loving, worshipping, healing, discipling and witnessing community God intended for us to be.

Yes--beig a part of the present-not-and-yet-to-come kingdom is exciting indeed!

Allen
San Diego

PS--I'm enjoying your blog. Like our governor has said somewhere in the past, "I'll be back."