Posted by Chris on Apr 27, 2011 in
Culture,
Life 
Why:
1) This is what God’s been trying to get us to do since the time of Abraham. Everything from God’s call of Abraham to the hundreds of Levitical laws to Jesus’ call to be “a city on a hill” is God creating an alternative community.
2) The fact that communities such as the GLBT community or Fundamentalist Mormons or Vegans are (or at least they used to be) considered alternative, and Christians are considered old fashioned, is a sad statement on the failure of Christians to take #1 seriously.
3) The things you take for granted everyday are not necessarily good.
4) A lifestyle indistinguishable from one’s peers of other faiths (or no faith) fails at #1.
5) A system by which a “good Christian” just happens to be the same as a “good Englishman/Syrian/American” should immediately raise flags of suspiscion.
6) Alternative lifestyles thrive. Just check out the Amish.
7) You cannot complete an extrodinary mission by living an ordinary life. And mission is what this all boils down to.
How:
1) Do a fearless inventory of your daily habits, your possessions and your dreams.
2) Do a quick inventory of Matthew 5-7. Make a list of things Jesus said to do.
3) Compare lists 1 and 2.
4) Repeat a prayer I learned from a Latin American missionary “God thank you for the things you have blessed us with. Take away the ones we don’t need or appreciate.”
5) Pick one thing from the Jesus list you are not doing. Ruthlessly reorder your life in order to make it a possibility.
6) Ask everyone you know to join you or hold you accountable.
7) In time, repeat steps 3-6.
These are lessons that I learned, not from Sunday school or seminary, but from trading my car in for a bike. I’ve learned to live without what my surrounding culture considers normal. I’ve come to thrive within a different way of life. It’s like Neo unplugging from the Matrix, or that old Twilight Zone where the beautiful woman finds out her persecutors look like pigs. I’ve realized how deeply I’ve bought into this system and ignored Jesus teachings of a different Kingdom.
It’s easy to get stuck in the ruts of being a “good American” or a “hipster 20something” or worst yet “a good Christian.” I’m not saying you have to ditch your car to follow Jesus, but you do have to ditch something.
Imagine a group of people who did this. Something truly alternative. There is no way to compare them to those who stand out because of fashion or sexuality or politics. They would be beautiful. They would be dangerous.
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Tags: A Jesus Way, alternative lifestyle, counterculture, Jesus
Posted by Chris on Apr 25, 2011 in
Church,
God,
Life 
“The message of Easter is that God’s new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you’re now invited to belong to it.”
“The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.”
— N.T. Wright (Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church)
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Tags: easter, Jesus, liturgica year, liturgy, NT Wright, resurrection
Posted by Chris on Apr 4, 2011 in
Church,
Culture 
A small book, made of lead pages the size of credit cards may be the biggest archeological discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls. According to researchers, the books were found in an area of Jordan thought to be home to Jewish Christian who fled the fall of Jerusalem in 70 BC.
The researchers are quoted as saying:
‘As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.
‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’
One fascinating element, that seems to be overlooked by researchers, is what this tells us about what early Christians actually believed. Popular skeptics like to argue that Jesus was just a teacher, whose legend grew, and was codified centuries later. However, if the books are authentic, it means that there is concrete evidence of the teaching that Jesus was divine, was crucified and raised from the dead.
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Tags: apologetics, archeology, doubt, Faith, Jesus
Posted by Chris on Mar 17, 2011 in
Church,
Culture,
God,
Life 
Hint: It has nothing to do with snakes or wearing green or potatoes or beer.
…Well, maybe it has a little to do with beer…
In the fifth century a 16 year old British Roman named Patricius was captured and sold into slavery in Ireland. The next six years he spent in the freezing cold among the barbaric celts. Although he was eventually set free, Ireland never really released him. He trained as a priest and returned in what was likely the first missionary effort since the time of Paul.
Patrick wandered a land sparsely populated by a people most well known for stripping naked, painting themselves and screaming into battle. In that place, he built monasteries. Simple outposts where people could come, live a life of rhythm and grace. Crops were farmed, books were reproduced and, of course, beer was brewed.
Over time, these monasteries drew communities, which became villages, which became cities. These people were drawn into a sense of community and an ordered life. As they were drawn into community, they were drawn to Christ. When the Roman Empire fell, and the formerly civilized Europe started to look a lot like barbaric Ireland, the spiritual descendants of St. Patrick spread through the now barbaric continent, building monasteries and communities as they went.
In our world Christians are known for picketing funerals and cheesy t-shirts and legislating morality. Patrick stands as a shining example of how the lovers of Jesus are to live amidst the ruins of the fallen empire of christendom.
I post this every year, but it bears repeating. A quote from my favorite prayer, the Brestplate of St. Patrick:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(Much of this story was gleaned from How The Irish Saved Civilization [text or audio], which I’ve previously reviewed.)
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Tags: Community, evangelism, How The Irish Saved Civilizaion, Jesus, liturgical year, liturgy, St. Patrick
Posted by Chris on Sep 17, 2010 in
Life 
I write this post from Flipnotics, which I think of more as my living room than a coffee house. The rustic patio bar nestled in the hills of 78704 is a refuge for those trying to hold on to the hippie lifestyle, an office for freelancers and the hope of the open mic scene.
Recently, I ran into an old coffee friend here who asked me, “so, are you still religious?”
The other night I met a pastor’s prodigal son who has left behind his religion, but has embraced the teachings of Ken Wilber. As we discussed the differences between the concepts of integral spirituality and the claims of Jesus Christ, another friend chimed in “I respect religion, you know, culturally.”
It’s hard to respond to these statements. The more learn about Jesus, the more dangerous I see religion. I don’t claim that I’m some “spiritual but not religious” type, who strike me as wanting to feel something without having to live in community, tradition or authority. The “not religion but relationship” line sets up for an individualism at the expense of the surrounding world.
These questions took Jesus three years to answer, and when he did, it got him killed. You can know God, traditions are helpful, personal practices are transformative, and community is necessary. But that can be very different than religion: culturally bound, guilt inducing, creativity damping, and, most dangerously, a tool of the state.
Jesus spoke of a kingdom, demonstrated a deep love for others and cared for the poor. He had a deep respect for the stories of the Hebrew tradition, but not the religion of his day. His followers responded with a new way of living: a humble, communal lifestyle where you give everything away.
Joining the Kingdom, rejecting the trappings of your world, yet loving it deeply is fundamentally different than being religious. It’s also requires years of demonstration, something you can’t share over a beer.
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Tags: Austin, flipnotics, Jesus, mission, Missional, religion, spirituality
Why:
