Much better!

Whew - church this morning was great. The usual pastor was back, and I do mean B-A-C-K! He hit so many of the Emerging Church touchpoints, it was almost like we were back in NY. Stuff like "we're not here to play church," and "the problem isn't a lack of knowledge, it's a lack of action." And we're supposed to be loving and serving people - that's what loving and serving God looks like.

The fancy words (which he didn't use) are orthopraxy and orthodoxy. The Emerging Church says orthopraxy (right living) is just as important as ortodoxy (right doctrine)... while traditional Evangelicalism has a tendency to emphasize the doctrine a wee-bit too much (occasionally to the point of questioning whether or not a person like Mother Theresa, for example, is "really saved," because we're not sure if she's "prayed the prayer." Yikes!). The thing is, we can make a mental assent to all sorts of doctrines and theological statements, but whether we actually believe it or not is proven by our lives and our interactions with the people around us.

Anyway, the pastor talked about Mother Theresa and Gandhi as examples of leaders who really put their beliefs into action, put others first, did not rely on positions of power, formal education, money, etc. He made me a bit nervous when he described leadership as being "influence," (without quoting my second-least-favorite-writer-in-the-world John Maxwell by name, thank goodness), but then went on to explain leadership in terms that lined up nicely with Kevin Cashman's definition of leadership: authentic self expression that creates value (best definition of leadership ever! Read my Punk Rock article from two years ago for more details).

Bottom line -I think we're going to stay with this place. The kid's program is great, the community is warm and active, and I think it's where we're supposed to be.

That's a beautiful thing.

Oh No!

One of the hardest things about moving is leaving behind our church and trying to find a new one in the new location (and hooking up the drier vent is a close second).

We loved our church in NY, and as I've mentioned, it was an "emerging church" sort of place. This whole emerging thing is still sort of new and rare and small, making it a bit more difficult than ususal to find a place.

Two Sundays ago we went to a church and it felt like a really good fit. It's fairly evangelical in a lot of ways, but had many emerging-ish attributes. And then this past Sunday we went back and it wasn't good. Not good at all. Like, it made my skin crawl and made me want to get up and leave. There was a guest preacher, a good-ole-boy football coach with an old-time-religion sort of approach. I'm sure he's a nice guy and he loves Jesus and all that, but yikes.

I hope this coming week is better...

What's this Blog About?

I've been thinking about some of the common threads that run through the eclectic series of topics on this blog, and figured I'd post a few thoughts.

I write about my books a lot.
I write about my life a little.

I write about cool technologies, the joys and pains of being a writer, distributist economics, emerging Christianity, Bill Richardson's politics, rogue program management, post-modern philosophy, poetry, digital-age marketing and intellectual property issues.

Every once in a while, I post a funny picture of a cat or two.

And I think the common thread through almost all of it is "post-modernism" (except maybe the cats). I guess I'm just a post-mod kind of guy, and even the eclecticness of this collection is a post-mod kind of thing to do. A Modern blogger, in contrast, would have a single topic ( such as Intellectual Property Rights And How To Defend Them!) and very few deviations, for which he would offer either an apology, a well justified reason, or both.

But not me. I'm too busy looking for the next form of cat-based internet humor to stick to a single topic.

The Desert - Emerging Church Stories

The more I learn about this "emerging church" thing (see my earlier post), the more I realize that's the kind of Christian I am and want to be. I think it's a much more attractive and culturally relevant kind of faith in today's world.

Rather than focusing on the old "what would happen if you died tomorrow?" question - which made a lot of sense in a potentially apocalyptic Cold War era, with large quantities of nuclear weapons hanging over everyone's head - the Emerging Church tends to address "What if you don't die tomorrow? What if you wake up in the morning, and you're alive?" The focus is on loving and serving people today. I don't think you need to believe in Jesus to see the goodness in that approach.

So it hit me that my little book The Desert is really a collection of "emerging church" stories and reflections. I didn't do it on purpose - I didn't even know the term until a few weeks ago. I just wrote what I wrote, and it turned out to fit in with this emerging thing. The stories are about love and grace and joy. They are about service and community and hope. I really wrote them for my own amazement, but I do hope people will enjoy them (and the few reviews I've had so far have been very encouraging).

I think I'm going to change the subtitle to something along the lines of "Stories For An Emerging Church" or "Stories of Emerging Faith" - or somehow get the word "emerging" in there (even though, as I've said, I think it's sort of a dorky label).

*****
PS: Here's a little excerpt from an article in Christianity Today, titled Five Streams of the Emerging Church:

Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. This definition encompasses nine practices. Emerging churches (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, and (3) live highly communal lives. Because of these three activities, they (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities.

Emerging Church

For the past few years, I've been increasingly uncomfortable calling myself an "evangelical." It's not that I don't believe in God or don't read the Bible. I'm not rejecting orthodoxy or anything like that. I'm just so turned off by the smugness and moralizing that seems to characterize evangelicalism, not to mention the disturbing cosiness between evangelicalism and political conservatism.

And I'm not convinced Jesus would vote Republican (gasp!). I'm not convinced evangelical perspectives on theology and moralism are as correct (or important) as some advocates make them out to be. (double gasp!).

Fortunately, the church we've been going to for these past few years is on the same wavelength, and I've recently become aware that we're not exactly alone. There's a movement afoot called "the emerging church," and the more I learn about it, the more I identify with it... even though I think the label "emerging" is sort of dorky...

The Feb 2007 issue of Christianity Today has a great article titled Five Streams of the Emerging Church. It really describes what this Emerging this is all about. And if you're looking for a great example of Emerging Christianity in action, check out this article titled "Maybe it's time to stop bullshitting God," or "My Prosaic Jesus... or Brown Like Shit."

No evangelical would use words like that (and I still don't, to be honest). But authentic honesty - humble, human honesty before God - is what it's all about. It's about loving people. It's about social justice, fighting poverty, showing mercy, blah-blah-blah. It's not about a list of words you're not supposed to say.

It's very cool.