Pagan Christianity part 3 or the Sacred Fellowship of Lost

What does it look like to be the church? Last night Em and I went over to Paul and Karen's house to hang out. The food was amazing and even better was the community felt. One of Paul and Karen's friends, who is also a mutual friend of Em and I, had texted to Karen a prayer need. Right then and there the four of us prayed for her.

Up until this point, the last two blogs have been about Pagan Christianity and my own reflections on church life. Paul was the one who initially introduced me to this book so he is the one to thank/blame for all this stuff going on in my head. We ate, prayed, talked, and then we all watched Lost together. It was an awesome time that we had reflecting and sharing our lives together.

After Em and I got home, I took the dog out for my own time of reflection and prayer (And waiting for the dog to poop). I was thinking and wondering what is the criteria for the label church. That is to say, if the church is intentional community, sharing lives, praying together, and professing our Lord; then did we meet together as church? When does the church stop being the church?

One of the things that Paul and I talked about was the idea of the gathering on Sunday morning as an "Event". What if the event was designed in such a way that it pushed people to be priests every day, looking for churches to be cultivated? If this sounds crazy, I am sorry. I heard it said before that we are all missionaries every day, but I think the truth is that we are all priests every day. If we as priests were to function as church planters, building communities that are intentional upon the foundation of God's love, inviting others to join the conversation, and investing in each other then we truly are a revolution of hope. The amazing thing about this work is that we can virtually start a church anywhere.

I started thinking Last night as Em and I were in bed I had this realization that I will probably remember Pagan Christianity and the content there within more than some of my favorite books simply because I have really had to deal with the content and maul it over.

 

Lessons from Pagan Christianity part 2 or How Noah is a theological bipolar

It really is strange the way we view clergy. I pretty much understood the priesthood of all believers pretty early on in life. I remember hearing in high school youth group that Martin Luther was revolutionary in the fact that he made statements that brought the people up to the level of a priest. This notion obviously caused quite a stir and a lot of hell for Luther.

Since that time however, the church has made great strides in digressing from this position. Many of the evangelical circles that I have been around have held in high esteem the pastor, missionary, and fulltime pastor's wife. Although I believe that these are all worthy callings or vocations, there is no distinction between clergy and the lay person. I really liked that Viola help bring this to light a little more.

The job of the leader of a church is to push for everyone to realize their priesthood and their respective roles in the body of Christ. I think there is definitely better ways to assist in this and perhaps Viola's perspective on organic house churches is the best way. I am not sure.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not a huge fan of large churches. I think that there is a lot lost. But I wonder if the communal aspect of the gathering is fulfilled, for lack of a better word, by small groups. My concern for a mindset that is as extreme as assuming that there is only one type of church model is that it becomes another form of legalism.

Here is the rub. Although my opinion of the church functioning as authentic church looks very different than say an Episcopalian, Eastern Orthodox, R.C., or Presby; it doesn't mean that I am right and they are wrong. I am too aware of my own dogmatism and failures, to be so arrogant to believe that I am right about everything. In this same light, I don't believe that anyone has it all figured out like we would think. It just isn't my bag.

That being said, I would love to be a part of a community in which lives are lived together. My dream for church would be a lot like Viola's idea of organic house church communities. Every voice would have the same power, every action would be done by everyone, and the church would be actively serving together those who are on the fringes of the Empire. This community would laugh a lot and cry; would work together and play; would serve and be served. I am not sure that I really like being a church that gets together once or twice a week; much to the same degree that I don't like it when I have to spend huge amounts of time away from my wife. But using the analogy of a marriage, there is no right model in which to be married. Some couples spend a lot of time away from each other and others spend 24 hours a day.

So what is the responsibility of a pastor or church leader? Again, I believe it is about teaching others to lead and giving away all power and responsibility. I think that the pastor's job is to push for others to be church.

Sometimes I almost want to laugh when I go back and read what I just wrote. I laugh because I think to myself that three years ago I wrote out my beliefs. I am sure that if I could find this, "Treasure" that it would be laughable. History, things I have learned, and obviously following the Spirit has led me to become a different person. I know that the same will also be true of this blog. A year from now I will look back and think, "Man! I was so far off." But this is the nature of the journey. I hope and pray that this will happen all my life.

Lessons from Pagan Christianity part 1

As I said in the previous post, I am reading Pagan Christianity right now. The general premise of this book is to show the history of many of the practices that we are doing today and how many of them are not founded in Scripture or the New Testament church at all.

Keep in mind that I have only read about three chapters so far, but it is very provocative and has sparked a lot of imagination. Grant it, I haven't agreed with it completely. I think that because I am more generously orthodox, my beliefs on church form and structure is way more open. If that doesn't make any sense I apologize. Hopefully it will.

Frank Viola has already made his intention clear in pointing out that a church community needs to be an organic church that realizes a church is people not a building. He demonstrates that the early church was a community that met in homes. He believes that this is the correct way in which a church should function. Viola states that the church has become more concerned with emotions and feelings in worship.

This is only up until chapter three.

While some of what he says I read and have to keep myself from giving a hearty southern Baptist, "Amen!" other parts I am left with feelings of anger and frustration. So I have decided to write a blog about my beliefs on the issues that he has covered thus far, in an attempt to sort it all out in my own mind.

The Church

Like Viola, I agree that church is not and should not be defined as a building. A church is a group of people who follow and practice Christ teachings. When the church fails to follow and practice Christ teachings, the church ceases to be the church. In its simplest form church is without walls and maintains its "Churchiness" when Christ is the center of a group of individuals.

While I maintain that I have my own personal journey, I am not church alone. I think one of the problems with the Post-Enlightenment, is the idea of individuality which did not leave the church unscathed. Many believe that the faith journey is more individual and less communal. This is simply not the case. We as the followers of Christ need to live lives where community is vital and necessary to our faith journey.

The Building

The building or structure that a church meets in speaks volumes as to the beliefs of the church. Again, I agree with Viola. Rather a church has metal chairs, pews, or couches; sits in a round, semi-circle, or rows; has natural lighting, florescent lighting, or dimly lit candles: all of these states a theology. But is there a wrong way of communicating with structure in worship? I mean, wouldn't the apostles or Christ himself addressed this if there was a wrong way to communicate our beliefs in our space of gathering? I would believe that the only wrong way is to not think about how we use our space to worship.

The important thing here is for the church to find ways in which to be creative with their environment when speaking of the attributes of God. What I mean to say is this, if a church is taking a season in thinking about the mysteries of God, perhaps it would be a good idea to use candles to keep from illuminating an entire room with light. The reverse of this is also true when demonstrating that God is the illuminator of truth that a church would use a large amount of light.