where everybody knows your name...

I was reading this blog just a moment ago and it made me think of the older and ever so popular show Cheers! The above mentioned blogged raises the question, "If your church left the neighborhood, would anybody notice?" A question I think we should all ask of our faith communities.

The TV show Cheers! was part of my regular viewing habits through much of my life. It was (is?) one of those shows that most everyone connected with. The theme song pretty much summed up the heart of that connection, I think (this is from memory)...

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name."

Okay, I had to check a lyrics site to clear up one part, but it's amazing that I could type all but two words without much effort! Not only do those words and that tune take me back... they stir something deep inside me. A longing that I think is in everyone... to be accepted, loved, and known.

The blog I referenced posed the question to several churches, large and small... and (I think you probably already figured it was where they were going) the feeling is that many churches would have to honestly answer, "No, the people around here probably wouldn't notice."

Sometimes I think those of us that frequent churches, in our own search for "Cheers! Gone Jesus," get too caught up in our own longings for that experience (when really, we already have it... at least much more than many who haven't heard good news in a long time...) that we don't seek to BE that experience for the people in close proximity to our places of worship, our homes, ourselves.

Hope the thoughts spur you to give someone a "Norm!" moment today!

how far is too far...

So, I was going through my ritual of checking job sites, email, facebook, and got around to checking my blog-roll, which is usually quite enjoyable. Brian McLaren often has good things to share or points his readers to other blogs/sites of interest. I followed a link from one of his recent posts to this blog which expresses lament over the recent "pew poll" about torture that has gotten a lot of attention. While most of the blog/prayer resonated with me (I think we should think and pray long and hard about how/if we think of/justify the use of torture in light of our faith and the example of Jesus), the end of the prayer included a sentiment that bothered me deeply in other ways:

"There are times when a church so badly misunderstands what it means to be church that it must be repudiated as fundamentally ungodly, fundamentally a negation of true Christianity. This has sometimes been called a status confessionis moment — a situation where the basic integrity of the gospel and the core witness of the church are at stake. Jesus, I believe this is one such moment.

Any church — congregation, parachurch organization, denomination, or group of individual Christians — that supports torture has violated its confessed allegiance to you and can no longer be considered part of your true church. Let them be anathema."

The church I've been a part of for a few months now had a related conversation in our study yesterday morning about how we "in-group" or "out-group" people based on the ideas/thoughts/beliefs/values/etc. they hold. We're willing to label someone as non-Christian pretty quickly over many things that (may) have little or nothing to do with following Jesus. I think the above mentioned poll and the blog referenced that is a response to that are directly related to that conversation.

Does holding the position or opposing the position that our government should have policies that allow those involved in national security matters to torture people for information affirm or negate my decision to follow Christ? Obviously, some will (and have) said, "Yes," and others, "No." Is this only a political issue? Only a moral issue? These are not easy questions.

It's impossible to get inside the heads of all the Christians who took this poll and hear (much less, understand) where they're coming from and how they came to their conclusions. While I feel that our government and various agencies can go too far in the name of national security, I also believe that we, as Christians, can go too far in our response to those that, after much (or little) thought come out on the opposite side of an issue.

Again, these are not easy questions... but I do hope that they lead us to much prayer and reflection and an ever-increasing trust that the Spirit will guide us toward all truth and closer to the heart of God.

Merton...

I've read a good bit of Thomas Merton's work in the past few months. His The Seven Storey Mountain, while a bit of a chore, was intriguing as he told the story of his becoming a monk. I'm currently reading (re-reading parts) of his Thoughts in Solitude. I came across these words this morning...

“A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions. The activity proper to man is not purely mental because man is not just a disembodied mind. Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. It is only by making our knowledge part of ourselves, through action, that we enter into the reality that is signified by concepts…

Living is not thinking. Thought is formed and guided by objective reality outside us. Living is the constant adjustment of thought to life and life to thought in such a way that we are always growing, always experiencing new things in the old and old things in the new. Thus life is always new.”

I think this touches on the source of much of my frustration from the past few years. I feel that most of my life, faith (my faith, the faith of the circles I've run in) has been so focused on what some have called "beliefism." I'm continuing to find that it's hard to shift out of that mode and into a more lively, active faith where beliefs are formed by action and action by belief.

This relates in some ways to my current profession... the world of exercise/strength and conditioning/athletic performance is full of ideas and theories, some good, some bad, some neither. The reality of it, though, is that you have to be about the actual execution of plans and ideas to see if they actually work... a cycle of shaping action by thought and thought by action naturally occurs if you really care what results from your time and effort. Seems this attitude would better serve our faith and lead to a healthier perspective.

fca...

So, I've turned in my last paper... I'd like to believe that it's the last paper I'll ever have to write, but the last few years won't allow me to give it that degree of finality. I mean, so far, I've always ended up back in school... who knows? A Ph.D could be down the road... sigh. Anyway...

Tomorrow, I'm speaking at the last FCA meeting of the school year at Lawrence County High School in Moulton, AL. The football coach there was the first coach I worked with as an assistant for two seasons in Montgomery. My twin is the guidance counselor there and I have numerous friends that are alumni. Of course, it was/is a rival school to my alma mater, Hatton High School. I'm thinking I'll be taking my letterman jacket to use as part of an illustration... should be fun. I know I'm getting older when I struggle a bit to know what's best to share with a group of high school students. I'm sure it will be a good experience regardless... even from simply getting to spend a night at my parents' home, see the nieces, one sister, my brother-in-law, and some friends I don't get to see often. And maybe God will use something I share to jog something inside a few athletes... that would be cool, too.

Hope you're all well out there... no news on the job front here, but hoping for some development soon.