Jesus greatest enemies were the legalists, who had created a system of laws and rigidly enforced them on people. More recently, we’ve seen Christianity be boiled down to a list of thing that Christians don’t do: Don’t cuss, Don’t Dance, Don’t Gamble, Don’t hang out with people that have a different skin tone, Don’t have sex outside of marriage. The list of things you do do is shorter and seldom explained: read your Bible everyday, pray before meals, go to church on Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday night.
One of my silly little college rebellions was against praying at meals. I wasn’t a legalist, I had a relationship with God, so could pray whenever I wanted. A funny thing happened: soon, I wasn’t praying at all.
Pharisees and legalistic Christians were doing something very natural, yet very dangerous: taking our human need for rhythm and ritual, and turning it into a man made religion, that has no need for God’s grace and intervention.
Until we created electricity, mankind had lived a rhythm of life determined by the sun. We woke up with the sun, and went to sleep with the sun. The seasons shaped our year, with hard work during the spring and summer, celebrations during fall harvest. Rhythm has always defined what it means to be human, from beating of our hearts, to the ways we divide our year.
In a world with lights, television and refrigerators, rhythm has become a hindrance to a no limits lifestyle.
How do we create a rhythm of life, that encourages Christlikeness, without falling into the traps of legalism? Daniel was known for his prayer schedule. Jesus and his early followers celebrating Passover and Pentecost. When the early church was thrust by Constantine into the mainstream, they created traditions such as Lent to teach new converts the value of sacrifice. The Benedictine Rule of Life was developed as a guide to bring together the various aspect of one’s life into a unified, Christlike whole.
My week is shaped by things like logging into Facebook, my work schedule, or when the next episode of The Office airs. What could be more counter-cultural than allowing practices like prayer, Bible reading, time spent with community, fasting, meditation, and practicing mercy to shape how we organize our lives?
Many, in a reaction to legalism, have sought to be spiritual without being religious. This creates a vacuum filled by things of this world. Perhaps a better goal would be to learn how to be HUMAN without being WORLDLY, which we’ll discuss in the days to come.
What are the rhythms of your life? How have you overcome your human need for religion?
On Monday night I experienced Highball for the first time. It is really unlike anything else I’ve seen in Austin, yet has the distinct feel that it could only happen in Austin.
The club is located on South Lamar, in a part of town known for cheap chic. My favorite coffee houses, with their patio seating, exposed ceilings, and rickety tables maintain the bohemian steet cred. But Highball doesn’t even try.
Instead they go for classy. Leather paneling and chandeliers, high priced food and drinks make me put on a fedora and pretend that I’m somebody. Then Highball throws you a monkey wrench, or actually a ten pound ceramic ball. Bowling lanes and skee ball may seem to evoke “family fun centers” aimed at suburban teenagers., but actually add an element of interaction not found in your average club. Hidden in the back are private Karaoke rooms.
Then there’s the events, whose sheer level of creativity sets the place on it’s own plane. Everything from Geeks Who Drink trivia, to 90’s dance parties, to Oscar watching parties, to hip-hop karaoke.
I went by Monday night for Big Band night, which is where my only complaint comes in. The music selection was over the top, brassy and to slow for most of us Swing Dancers (although, it seemed perfect for the surprisingly high number of gray hairs cutting a rug.) The most fun we had on the dance floor was actually during the DJed breaks in between sets.
That being said, I’ll definitely give them another chance at the next Big Band night, and bring a few quarters for Skee ball.
Knowing that God has called you to be an underdog is a release to everything except your imagination.
Our new task is to imagine a Jesus way of life, true to who he is, yet meaningful in our context. We now ask ourselves, what about our culture’s way of life is valuable, godly and should be affirmed? What must be abandoned altogether?
The modern mindset would have us do this by breaking the world into categories. It asks questions like “What is Christian music/family values/politics/personal finances/sexuality/entertainment?” These are good questions which we may address later.
This categorization divorces relevant issues from the way in which we encounter them in life. No one says “from 8am-2pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I will listen to the radio.” Instead, they listen to the radio as a part of their rhythm of life. They listen in the car, or while they cook and clean. The tactic has been to tell people to listen to the Christian radio station. Rather than imagining what Jesus would do with a TV or computer, we put porn filters on our computers and try to find family friendly movies.
What if we asked questions like: “Why do I like porn so much?” or “Why do I turn the TV on the second I get home?” We need to move from avoiding behaviors to addressing the way of life we have bought into: our daily, weekly and yearly rhythms, and the nature of our relationships. Which we’ll dive into soon.
3. Climb a 14,000′ Mountain. Need to start planning for this. Want to go?
4. Visit somewhere I’ve never been. Considering going to Florida for the Exponential Conference. Any donated airline miles can be considered helping towards my kingdom goals.
5. Find a full-time job. Actually have an interview this week. Please keep praying!
6. Take at least one graduate course. Yeah…must complete 5 to do 6….
7. Read 40 books. Lost some speed here as well, but check out reviews for 7 and 8 soon!
8. Volunteer at least 1 time a month. Got the chance to help out at the Verge Conference. Directed parking, then went inside to learn.
9. Pay off all debt, except school loans. Looks like I’ll knock out the credit card with my upcoming tax return. Pretty excited about that.
10. Share my faith regularly. Had a co-worker approach me recently about this. Looking forward to sharing.
11. Begin leading and/or hosting a regular gathering for skeptics and Christians to study the Bible. Still working on making the apartment the kind of place one might invite others too. Need something for people to sit on.
12. Write daily, including journaling, blogging and working on a book. Really gotten off track on this one. The move has killed my rhythm, and writing suffered greatly. Hope this will pick up soon.
Knowing what we know about the water we swim in, we have to get our minds around a series of unpopular facts:
1. We do not live in a Christian nation. We never have. In fact, a good argument could be made that the idea of a Christian Nation is idolatrous, and counter to Jesus teachings about the Kingdom.
2. This means we have no rights. Culture teaches us that we have a bill of rights and human rights. Jesus teaches us that we will be persecuted. He calls this “blessed.”
3. Jesus does not promise us life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. He pursued his Father, lost his liberty and sacrificed his life. American Dreams that anyone can and should gain financial success cannot be found in the Sermon on the Mount or any of Jesus other teachings.
4. Having no rights, means you have no right to force your ideals on others. When you resort to using coercion or politics to make others behave, you have given up on God’s power to change people and the Church’s role as witnesses to another kingdom.
5. With no rights, no coercion, no politics, and no ambition for riches, you will be banished to the margins.
As followers of Jesus Way, along with God’s people since the time of Abraham, are Underdogs. We are scrawny, poor, and hopelessly outnumbered. Strangers in a strange land. We have no home field advantage.
We fight with weapons that are not of this world. We count our victories in lives changed and communities shifted. We will not see victory in this world.
This is where the adventure of following Jesus begins.
RT @tsharrison Thinking & praying 4 friends N community back N San Antonio-I miss gathering w/ them on Thurs nites-Acts from distance//ditto www.twitter.com/chrismorton823 hours ago
RT @craigwhitney: "The struggle of faith is really the struggle to act as if we had faith when in fact we do not." Dallas Willard www.twitter.com/chrismorton8213 hours ago
