H.B.log

U2charist?

I'm as big a U2 fan as the next guy, but this makes me go "ugghhh."  Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation is encouraging churches to host "U2charists" (a Eucharist service set to U2 music) to raise awareness of  Millennium Development Goals.  OK, here's my complaint:

It's cheesy and irreverent.  The problem here is with the name itself.  "Eucharist" means "thanksgiving."  The Eucharist is focused on Jesus; it's something he did and does for us.  "U2charist" shifts the focus to the Irish rock band.  I have a big enough problem with idolatry without the church's help.  Confession: I squealed like Tim LaHaye on Rapture Day after I met Bono and The Edge in November 2004.  Why are many of us more enamored with the hope of meeting Bono than the hope of meeting Jesus when he returns? 

So, I don't like the name.  Just call it "a service celebrating the Eucharist using U2's music," but don't call it a U2charist...that's cheesy at best, irreverent at worst.  Cheesy because what you wind up with is a lot of pasty old white Episcopalians trying to clap to U2's music (check out these happenin' pics from the Wyoming U2charist).  Irreverent because it panders for attention by using something other than the gospel to excite us...as if the "eu" needs "U2" to be relevant to the youths.    

Friday's Already-Not Yet

When Mia Comes Marching In: Tex Mex and the New Jerusalem
(Greetings from Javalato at the intersection of Northwest Highway and Preston Road in Dallas, Texas, USA.  This week's already-not yet is inspired by my weeklong tour of the Big D).

Isaiah 60 pictures a day when the not yet will become the already - the kingdom of God - and it's a magnificent metropolis teeming with created beauty.  In fact, we learn that people from every part of the world will bring their cultural treasures into the city.  In other words, God's not going to make us into uniformed soldiers like Mormon missionaries, wearing the same white shirt and black tie and riding the same bikes, but somehow Europeans and Latinos and Africans will look like Europeans, Latinos, and Africans in the New Jerusalem.  (For a great read on this subject, see Richard Mouw's short-but-powerful book When the Kings Come Marching In: Isaiah and the New Jerusalem).  So, Midian will bring her Camels, Tarshish her ships, Lebanon her trees, and Bavaria her Motor Works.  But what does this have to do with Dallas?  Being here this week reminded me of one thing that my hometown, Denver, will NOT be bringing into the kingdom: Mexican food.

There are many wonderful things about Denver - great weather, sunshine, parks, and mountain vistas, but everything can't be perfect.  In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve's rebellion brought a curse on creation, and Mexican food in Denver is evidence of the fall.  They call it "Mountain Mex" which is a euphemism for "bland plate of soggy goo smothered in green sauce."  I'll say it straight: it's a sin.  It's evidence that the creation itself has been subjected to futility.  It's a pocket of rebellion that is not under Jesus' rule.  It's proof that the kingdom is "not yet" because when the kingdom comes, Mountain Mex will be tossed into the lake of fire.

In the Kingdom, the summer weather will come from Colorado, but the Mexican food will come from Dallas, probably made by Mia.  Tex Mex in Dallas is an endless variety of outstanding restaurants flowing with milk and honey and sopapillas.  Mia's, Chuy's, Mi Cocina, Rafa's, Blue Goose, Mariano's, Mattito's, Primo's....I'm just getting warmed up!  Consider: when Pat Bowlen wanted to hire Mike Shanahan, did he take him to La Hacienda Colorado?  Hell, no!  But Jerry and Jimmy sealed their infamous coup de Landry over cervezas and enchiladas at Mia's on Lemmon and the 'Boys were on their way to three Superbowl triumphs.  No one does Mexican like Dallas.  It's their cultural gift to the New Jerusalem.

Friday's Already-Not Yet

Imperishability While Perishing
The already-not yet says that we live in tension between what we are and what we will be...what the world is and what it will become.  How should we handle that tension?  There is a currently popular American answer that we should eliminate it altogether, that we should make the not yet become the already by having a positive attitude and putting ourselves in position to get blessed.  This kind of teaching sells lots of "Christian" books and fills arenas.  But is it true? 

This week, I listened to a message by one of my favorite profs at Dallas Seminary, Dr. Jeff Bingham.  You can access online the entire message called "Imperishability While Perishing" based on 1 Peter 4.  Here is the pertinent excerpt that lets the air out of the plastic-smiling prosperity balloon:

"The danger of having a hope of imperishability, a hope if incorruptability, a hope of immortality is that you will be so consumed with a lust for that, that you will understand spirituality simply as your experience of imperishability in the present.  You want what will happen to you then to be true of you now, so you begin to focus upon not enduring persecution as a Christian but rather simply getting out of persecution.  You begin to see persecution as weird.  You begin to see difficulties as strange.  You begin to understand that since you are linked with imperishability you should be experiencing imperishability in every aspect of your life, and so you launch on a spiritual quest to rise above all your circumstances, to find victory above all suffering...to be able to escape all persecution.  But Peter has a word for those who are focused like that:"

"In chapter 4 of his epistle, he says, 'Beloved do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.  But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation.'"

"In other words, the word of God doesn't just promise you an imperishable future; it teaches you how to perish.  The word of God doesn't just promise you a future in which you will not fade; it teaches you how to fade Christianly.  The word of God doesn't just promise you release from persecution; it teaches you how to be persecuted Christianly.  It doesn't just promise you relief from suffering; it teaches you about the kind of person you are to be within suffering, because you are like the flower of the field; you will fade.  One moment you will be green as an emerald, the next as brown as the dust, and I don't care what your age is.  It is the word of God which stands imperishable, but we are perishing as we anticipate an imperishable future. And so, Peter's word to us is this: understand that Christianity involves the sufferings of Jesus followed by the glories to come."

The best blog you haven't been reading (no, it's not mine)

Most major American cities don't have a Christian bookstore- make that any bookstore - as good as the one Byron Borger is running in the middle of rural Pennsylvania.  So, if I ever find myself roadtripping between Baltimore and Harrisburg, I'm stopping in Dallastown to visit Hearts & Minds Books, where Byron stocks intelligent titles, not Carman albums and Testamints.

A few years ago, I found the Hearts & Minds site while googling for reviews of a particularly popular and bad book which shall remain nameless.  The most thoughtful, courageous, irenic, funny critique I found was penned by Byron. Ever since, I've religiously read his monthly "book notes," where I always discover worthwhile new releases that I wouldn't know about otherwise.  Byron is discerningly ecumencial, a small-r reformed contemplative charismatic who tends toward the culture-engaging style of Dutch neo-Calvinism.  For those of you who don't have a clue what I just said, it means he is theologically sharp but isn't a fundamentalist who makes his own clothes while avoiding beer and movies and people who think differently than he does.  He is especially good at celebrating all "vocations" as significant acts of worship, not just the spiritualized jobs like preaching.  So, I find him helpful in learning to talk with real people.

All of that was a rather long way of saying that Byron is now blogging and you should read him.  In fact, he's been blogging for a while, and since I haven't seen much mention of him in the blogosphere, I thought I should use my small, out-of-the-way, rarely-read blog to give him some publicity.  Of course, as soon as I began writing this glowing review, he started pushing a Sting album, so he's not perfect.  Byron, please remember me as you walk in fields of gold.         

What does the "means migration" mean for mission?

A few weeks ago, I posted a review of Richard Florida's article "Where the Brains Are" in the October Atlantic Monthly (the entire article is now available here on Florida's website).  While they are fruitful and multiplying, America's college grads are not filling the earth.  Instead, they are meeting up in relatively few "means metros" in order to ply their trades and realize their full economic potential.

So what does this means migration mean for mission and church planting?  It has already been well-argued that America itself is a huge mission-field, and we need an urban-focused strategy to meet the challenge.  In this post, I'd like to think about the next step: Assuming Christians go to the cities, what will our evangelism and discipleship need to look like?  Here are two initial thoughts:

An emphasis on worldviews.  Means metros, according to Florida are composed of "people of diverse talents, lifestyles, and social circles (as opposed to a few tight connections within homogenous groups).  They are socially tolerant and open to new ways of thinking."  Mixing it up in this milieu causes people to ask deeper questions than, "How can I have a more intimate personal relationship with Jesus?"  Instead, they ask things like, "Is there one true way of looking at the world or just many different ways?  Are the sexual ethics I was taught growing up rooted in anything deeper than my parents' outdated traditions?"  Effective evangelism and teaching will have to address these questions.

This need for worldview discipleship was highlighted recently when I was talking to a lady who wanted to give a "good Christian book" to a friend living in New York.  She thought he would like John Eldredge's Wild at Heart.  Perhaps, I said, but having been educated at a liberal arts college and now living in NYC, he might benefit more from something like Francis Shaeffer's Trilogy or Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth.  Suburban evangelicalism has been much better at producing stuff like Wild at Heart that deals with private piety and therapy.  In addition to this, urban Christians need a worldview that can compete in a pluralistic age.

An emphasis on stewardship.  The high earning potential of these urban dwellers is obvious enough, but Florida's insight is actually more nuanced: "Young graduates are flocking in ever-greater numbers to these 'means metros' where they often live in penury until either making it or being forced out by the high cots of living."  In other words, they don't start off wealthy; many start off making very little.  In Denver the progression goes like this: College grad moves to the city and rents a flat in Cap Hill or a house in Wash Park that she splits with 3 other people in the same situation.  In a few years, she makes enough money to buy a small condo.  She gets married in her early 30's to a guy with a good job and they pool their home equity to buy a bungalow in Wash Park or Congress Park or Park Hill or the Highlands.  In the decade between age 25 to 35, many of these means-metroers will go from barely paying 1/4 of the rent to making lots of money.  They go from needing help to being able to give it.  A Christian church will have to both help these young grads get settled in the city and help them steward their growing income.

Another area of stewardship concerns the poor.  Gentrification is a fact-of-life as more upwardly mobile types move into traditionally inner-city neighborhoods and fill the streets with their big-wheeled baby jogging strollers.  How to "remember the poor" will be crucial to Christian credibility in these cities.

Friday's Already-Not Yet

A game that was over before it was over
I can't let the week pass without drawing one more theological lesson from Arkansas' ransacking of (then) #2-ranked Auburn last Saturday.  The fourth quarter of that game was a perfect illustration of the already-not yet.  You'll recall that Jesus has already won a decisive victory over sin and death and evil.  That's what Paul tells us in Colossians 2:15.  "He (God the Father) disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (Jesus)."  But then in Hebrews we learn, "We do not yet see all things subjected to him."  Put together, we come to see history like a war that is won, even though there is still fighting in the outlying provinces...a game that is won even though there are still a few plays to be run.

So it was last Saturday, as I watched Auburn's offense try to run a few plays in the 4th quarter.  The Razorbacks had so thoroughly whipped them at the line of scrimmage that the game was over before it was over.  "Ears" Tuberville was still pacing the sidelines and peering through his squinty eyes covered by little-bitty sunglasses, but the 87,000 in Jordan-Hare knew the truth and were already hitting the road to Talladega.

Inspiration for this already-not yet came to me while listening to this excerpt from David Wells at the recent Desiring God conference.  "So it was at the cross.  This game has been locked up.  The outcome cannot be changed.  What we are seeing now is the last, futile moves of the enemy, not one of which is going to change the outcome that happened at calvary."

 
Auburn fans pack up their RV's and head upstate to the Talladega SuperSpeedway to drown their sorrows in NASCAR beer after the Hogs thrashed their Tigers.  Photo credit: Nick Jones ("MalvernHog")

Year of the Hog?

In theology, "eschatology" refers to "last things," the long-awaited return of Jesus to make all things new and set this world right.  Jesus said it was coming at a time when no one knew, and so we had better keep watch and pay no mind to literary-theological trainwrecks like the Left Behind series.  For 2,000 years this "blessed hope" has sustained his followers through many triumphs, toils, and tears. 

As a crude parallel, every subculture has its own "blessed hope" that seems oh-so-close yet ever distant.  The Razorback Nation is no exception.  For years, our lead prophet Houston Dale Nutt ("HDN" in Hog-speak) has been promising that we're just around the corner from a new golden era of Razorback football.  In response, most Hog fans have taken to the internet message boards and radio talk shows to sing a little Johnny Hates Jazz back at HDN: "Now you've given me, given me, nothing but shattered dreams, shattered dreams."   

But lift up your Hog hats and be lifted up!  After a 27-10 a-whipping of #2-ranked Auburn, 2006 is shaping up to be the long-awaited "Year of the Hog."  It turns out the first sighting of this new age came at sunup Saturday in Scotland, where my good friend Todd Stockdale is somewhat of a Razorback-monk: a semi-ascetic fellow who has left a plum post in comfy, complacent Rome (Fayetteville) to seek a purer devotion in the wilderness (Edinburgh).  He thought he had escaped the crazyness of the Razorback Nation until he saw this stained-glass sign at a countryside castle where he was on retreat.  A few hours after this sign appeared, Darren McFadden broke through the Auburn D-line and the new age was inagurated:

         

Water for the Battle Weary

Before I started planting a church, I fancied myself a cool-under-fire, Joe Montana-like fellow, dodging one blitz after another while keeping my hair fluffy and bouncy.  Before.  In reality, I wasn't in the battle.  I was just in training camp, where the bullets were still rubber and the blitzing linebackers weren't allowed to tackle me to the ground.

A couple of months into this, I realized I was in a fight.  Unaccustomed to the daily grind of war, I found myself buzzing like a one-beer drinker with no tolerance, oscillating between extreme optimism and anxiety, often in the same day.  Contending with passive people, the massive theological confusion in American Christendom, an overwhelming amount of work, and even cowardly, neutered "brothers" in the battle is enormously exhausting.  I needed more constant recharging than I ever imagined.

So, for the first time in my life I really opened the book of Psalms.  I had heard rumors that it dealt with stuff like this.  And I also found a more experiened fighter to guide me through the Psalms, Patrick Henry Reardon and his wonderful book, Christ in the Psalms.  With the help of King David's inspired poetry and Reardon's honest commentary, I found myself seeing Jesus the fighter like I had never seen him before and praying things I would have never prayed before, things like: "Arise, O Lord!  Save me, O my God!  For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked" (Psalm 3:7)

About this third Psalm, Reardon writes:

To pray the psalms correctly, then, it is very important that we properly identify the enemies.  Some modern Christians, not understanding this, have even gone so far afield as to exclude certain of the psalms from their prayer, attempting to justify the exclusion by an appeal to Christian charity and the spirit of forgiveness.

This is unmitigated nonsense.  The enemies here are the real enemies, the adversaries of the soul, those hostile forces spoken of in the very first verse of the Book of Psalms - "the counsel of the ungodly."  "For we do not wrestle," after all, "against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12).  To relinquish any one of the psalms on the excuse that its sentiments are too violent for a Christian is a clear sign that a person has also given up the very battle that a Christian is summoned from his bed to fight.  The psalms are prayers for those engaged in an ongoing spiritual conflict.  No one else need bother even opening the book.      

The Dangers of Groupthink

The picture below from Saturday's Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech game reminds me of the dangers of what sociologists all "Groupthink."   Wikipedia defines it like this: "Groupthink may cause the group (typically a committee or large organization) to make bad or irrational decisions which each member might individually consider to be unwise."

Now I confess: in Arkansas, we sqeal "Wooo Pig Sooie!" (extend arms, wiggle fingers, repeat 3 times and add "Razorbacks!" at the end).  It feels perfectly natural in a stadium with 75,000 other people or in a crowded El Chico after a big win, but it IS a little awkward when done alone.  But Texas A&M takes group stupidity to a new level.  See for yourself....

Another Aggie "Tradition"