When you live in a post-Christian society, Sunday becomes less about recounting sweet Bible stories, and more about engaging in the difficult questions of our time. For the most part, big name churches avoid this by trying to be practical. Practical is good. But anyone can offer practical.
What the Church can do, that no one else can, is be a safe place where difficult questions can be discussed. I’m happy to be a part of a little church here in Austin that’s really good at this. However, at least in the world of popular podcasted sermons, I only know of two places where this happens.
1. The masterful series from Erwin McManus at Mosaic back in 2006 called Life’s Toughest Questions, including “What About Sex?” and “Is There a Hell?” Nobody can frame a discussion like Erwin.
2. Then there’s this strange phenomenon north of the border. The fasting growing church in Canada is a multisite megachurch in Canada called The Meeting House. Each week Bruxy Cavey takes on the sacred cows of religion with rhetoric that is fiercely Mennonite (well, as fierce as a pacifist can be) and unflinchingly Arminian.
His most recent series My God Why? creates space to wrestle with the problem of evil. The previous series Grace Anatomy offers a solid foundation for a theology of grace, while offering an alternative to popular conceptions of depravity and election. Before that was a helpful series on evangelism that gives the listener a listening based framework to discuss eternal issues. Possibly the bravest (and most Mennonite) of all their material was a series making the case for non-violence called Inglorious Pastors. This features interviews with such peace focused rabble-rousers as Jim Wallis and Greg Boyd.
Bruxy’s sermon’s are intellectual yet accessible, and in my opinion, a lot of fun. Coming from a country a few miles down on the post-Christendom road, The Meeting House is an example of what a meaningful conversation can be.
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