Have you ever been hiking at night? If the woods are dense enough, almost no moonlight or starlight penetrates the thick canvas of the forest roof. When you turn your headlamp on, the immediate area in front of you lights up, and everything else is draped in blackness. You can see clearly for maybe thirty feet, then after that it tapers quickly back into pitch black. There’s a certain amount of faith that you have to walk in when you are night hiking. You have to trust that the trail will take you where it is supposed to go. You have to have faith that the trail itself is safe, even if it runs alongside a step cliff or next to a rushing river. You trust that the noises you hear are really just big squirrels and not hungry bears looking for tasty, out of shape and slightly plump, stray hikers. So you hike in faith, knowing for sure only what lies 30 feet in front of you and hoping that you’ll reach your campsite before Roscoe the Mountain Man jumps from the shadows to demonstrate to you his deep knowledge of the movie “Deliverance.” It really is exciting. Believe me. Try it sometime. Well, I am on a night hike of sorts right now, figuratively speaking. All of us that have entered into this amazing adventure that is following Christ are on night hikes. Our destination is certain: the Kingdom of God. Our trail is firm: the Path of Righteousness and the Way of the Cross. Our light, The Holy Spirit, illuminates all that we need to know in order to navigate through the world that is shrouded in the darkness of sin. The path that I am currently on is not one that I ever thought that I would take. It is a crazy trail that already has seen miracles, struggles, leaps of faith, and mighty acts of God. And we're only at the beginning. My hiking companions are my wife Brandie, and my three sons, Sam, Jack and Luke. It is a journey that we would love to share with all of you, if you want to read along.

Monday, June 21, 2010

oh no...

I have not posted anything for several days. This is unfortunate because I made a bet with a friend that I would post for 21 straight days. I miscounted and I think I only have 19 days in a row. Crap. This means that I may inherent some rabbits for failing on the bet. This is not good...

Well, here goes again. I will start my 21 days of posting over right now. Including today, I have to post everyday until July 11th.

In case there are actually people that are reading this (and I am not convinced that there are) class went really great last week. I am convinced more than ever now of the importance of community. There was a lot of "suburban bashing" from the class participants, and for good reasons mostly. Statistics, research, polls, etc... are fairly clear: Suburban sprawl has weakened community, civic responsibility, involvement in formal and informal organizations (including church), and has contributed to the rise of depression, loneliness, poor health, and many other negative factors in our lives.

It seems like there is this resurgence of interest in urban areas here in the academic world of seminary. Much thought, and many people, are putting time and energy into urban churches and missions, assuming that the suburbs are either taking care of themselves or that they can rot in their self-indulgences. But despite these thoughts and conclusions, I do not think that I am ready to bash on suburbia and completely abandon it as a helpless wasteland of selfishness, greed, and endless supply of Starbucks and strip malls.

There are great things in the suburbs, but most importantly, there are people that need the redeeming power of the Triune God. There are people that are hungry and thirsty for something much deeper than what most suburban churches are offering. If this is to happen, more of the suburban churches need to quit buying into the consumerism model. In this model churches sell themselves as a "brand". If a church isn't your brand, then choose somewhere else. In the past, churches were branded by denominations (which is a form of theological branding). Now they are branded by what they offer: contemporary music, ministries in the arts, great children's programs, solid missions, small group focused, etc...

Oh, how this seems so much like division to me. Yes it makes sense from a marketing standpoint. And if your goal is to get large numbers of people then this works. At least for a time. But if your goal is to make radical followers of Jesus Christ, transformed by the Holy Spirit, and empowered to serve the Kingdom of God, then I am not convinced this model will work well. The communities that are fostered in this model are typically built around common interests, common socio-economic status, or generational preferences. Churches become homogeneous masses. The Body of Christ, as pictured in Scripture, is far from homogeneous. It is diverse and often messy, but the people are held together in all their differences through the resurrected Savior and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Well, I could go on and on about this, but I really have to go now. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow, after all I have 20 more days before I can take a break.
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