Labels are used to identify what's inside. We frantically search for a label to describe ourselves, perhaps with a flaw label (I'm shy, I'm a.d.d., I have a personality disorder) or maybe It's what you do,(I'm a mom, a wife, a doctor, a lawyer, president). Is that what defines us? Labels?
I used to ask God "who am I?", I felt that His reply was simply "My child" In the end, when everything I am is stripped away, when my children leave, my husband dies and I am alone, I will always be His child. There's great comfort in that.
Since I first became a christian I've been concerned with how different churches name themselves, why are there so many? Dave B. said at church recently that we have the mind of Christ. If we are all following the same savior, then why is there so much to argue about?
There is a movement with yet another label, emergent. These people are questioning and moving in a new direction. It reminds me of a time when I was watching Oprah, she was talking about how God was in all of us and when you meditate you're connecting with God, or your inner self. That didn't seem right to me, though it made sense. This emergent church idea doesn't seem right to me either, though their arguments make sense. What they believe isn't clear and their explanations seem vague. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand what they're saying. Perhaps someone can explain it to me.
3 comments:
hey mo.
i'm posting a lot of comments lately.
emerging or emergent are terms to describe a movement of christians or churches trying to figure out what the church will look like in this the post modern era.
the modern era (like for instance, the dark ages, and the enlightenment before it) is pretty much finished and is giving way to the "post-modern" era
you see, while most of how we live our faith is directed by our understanding of scriptures - the rest is a reflection of the cultural setting that we are in. Modernity has not only shaped the culture, it has even influenced our approach to interpreting the scriptures. (this is not necessarly bad it just means that we all approach faith with a bias.)
while modernity has been characterized by logic, and formulas etc, Post Modernity recognizes that formulas can fail and that Faith in God is not always logical.
There were strengths and weaknesses to modernity.
The thing about the emerging church or the post-modern church is that they realize that a "modern" approach won't reach "post-Modern" people, but they also tend to focus on the weaknesses of Modernity (unfortunately leading them to throw the baby out with the bath water.)
The strengths of the post-modern church will probably prove to be (it is still an infant or new concept) it's global perspective (as opposed to western), it's practical approach, (valuing what Christian's do not just what we believe, and it's embracing of some of the historical practices of the Christian faith( that were lost in evangelicalism)
ITs weakness as i see it now, is that because it is so new, they are in the deconstructing phase (where they spend all their time complaining about the failures of the modern church, or pointing out it's faults) and in an attempt to distance themselves from the "modern" incarnations of the Church (which they say are legalistic, and religious, judgemental, and not much fun (i made that last one up)) they have treaded on some dangerous ground. (including some orthodox doctrines - on the grounds that they were a reflection of a modern biased interpretation of scripture.)
all of that to say. I am a post-modern Christian. I love Post-modern people. I have great hopes for the post-modern (emerging) church. And i hope that it's growing pains aren't too hard cause already i have seen the emerging church and the people who claim to represent it say some dumb things... (it can happen to anyone)
I pray that the emergence of a post-modern church doesn't divide the body between Modern types and post-modern types cause that would be a shame. I pray as always that this next generation will come to know Jesus and love and serve and follow him with equal passion as the modern generations before it.
Hope that Helps
So isn't the post modern church just a new formula, for a new generation? It's the same old thing with a different twist, because the young people that are questioning "if there is a God", have come up with new questions.
For all our arguing back and forth, isn't it still true that the holy spirit is the one that draws people to Jesus? I didn't go to bible college or anything, so please correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that God doesn't need me to show Himself to people, but He likes to use me. So isn't our job, as it's always been, to go out into the world and allow God to use us? I don't think that's new.
I really don't like the divisivness either. I've finally come to a place in my old age where I love and respect all of the generations before me and their wisdom. I don't look at what they didn't know yet and say they were stupid. It's the building blocks of knowledge that have brought us to where we are now. We need to honor these people, not dismantle everything they've passed on to us.
I see this as a bunch of teenagers rebelling against Dad more than a church that's emerging into something better. I'd like to step on board, but there's a storm and I'm not really sure of the safety of your little boat.
For now, I'm going to follow Jesus as I've always done, and talk to people about Him as the Spirit leads. Hopefully I'll have some confident answers, when my children start asking questions.
sounds pretty wise to me
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