the ties that bind…

The last few years I have been attempting to detangle myself from the many ways my heritage and our American church sub-culture as a whole have missed the point. This blog has been about articulating this detangling on various points. The 15 posts or so that I have made so far aren’t exhaustive and there are quite a few more points or topics I would like to cover. But, I want to begin to switch gears a bit. Instead of pointing out how we have missed the point, I want to move into “where do we go from here?” So over the next few weeks, I plan to start that process. I want to avoid just replacing the current paradigm with a tweaked one, but these posts won’t be written from a stand point of, “I have found it” or “Here is how I did it.” Admittedly, they will have a level of curiosity or idealistic wondering, but hopefully this will allow for even more question and conversation as all of us see the need to begin to authentically explore this territory beyond our current institutions. There won’t be a 5 point plan next week. I plan to take my time. Maybe I’m just stalling…

I’m not naïve enough to say I am completely detangled. Yet, as I write, I can’t think of much that I am hanging onto. My faith is, at this point, very simplistic which leaves me in a very free place to re-think so much of what we do and how we do it. Church leaderships and members everywhere are struggling with this re-thinking of religion and faith. Not that this hasn’t happened before (or doesn’t continually happen), but we seem to find ourselves in a moment where this re-thinking is around every corner and churches across many denominations seem to be gaining or losing members because of it. Some fear that we are all just becoming less religious and blame society for their lack of interest in church stuff. I wonder if that is a bad thing if “losing my religion” means moving away from unwavering acceptance of our institutions and towards a more authentic pursuit of this way of Jesus.

This detangling process can be complicated on an individual and a group level. I respect that. I don’t ever expect someone to have all the answers and I would never want to set an “artificial” time-line for it to be done. (just a little political humor) But, we do make a lot of excuses. While it is necessary to “settle” at times, I can’t always have a “things will never be perfect, so just make the best of it” attitude. I can’t “accentuate the positive” without working to “eliminate the negative.” Remember that old annoying song? Some would say it is not about the issues, it is just about Jesus. I wouldn’t disagree, but that is often used to talk out of both sides of our mouths. When talking to the “weaker brothers” this means “stop making so many rules.” When talking to the “stronger brothers’ this mean “hey, you’re technically free to do that, but drop it already and make the best of it.” This would be fine if we were talking about the same issues that Paul was in Romans 14. He was talking about “food” and “sacred days.” If I determine there is nothing wrong with drinking a beer, that doesn’t mean it is a good idea for me to drink a beer at my next youth group gathering nor should I take it to someone’s house I know doesn’t think the same way as me and just chug it in their face. Fair enough. At the same time, I don’t know how any of the “weaker” brother’s could have read that chapter and come away still holding onto their faulty conclusions. Paul was clear that what the “stronger” ones were doing was not wrong. Yet he wrote it in a way that let the “stronger” ones know their flaunting didn’t help anyone while at the same time letting the “weaker” one’s know they were missing the point.

There are some valuable principles in Romans 14, but we seem to try and apply that passage to every conceivable situation under the sun leaving ourselves only as “strong” as the “weakest” will allow. Most of the issues we argue about in my heritage and most of the issues that are involved in this re-thinking of religion are issues that have roots deep in our theological conclusions. While I don’t want to get bogged down in the issues, the issues are directly connected to the foundations of our theology. So to me, they are not just issues, but they are symptoms of a real problem. While I want to treat the real problem, I also want to clear up the symptoms.

What I am saying is that I think this detangling is appropriate and needed. This is what motivates me to write and I find myself growing increasingly convinced of it. Our relationships are valuable but we can’t let those keep us from removing things in front of us that inhibit our effectiveness and productiveness. That would be like valuing your hair over the removal of a brain tumor. At times an invasive procedure is necessary for your future and overall health. Can detangling take some time? Yes. Can it be complicated? Yes, especially in groups but also individually. But, as I said I am convinced it is necessary and vital and that we must continue to find our way in it. Some don’t agree and they think that landscaping around the tree stump is good enough, because after all “it would take a backhoe and a lot of work to remove it and even then you still might fail.” That’s not me. What about you? Where do you fit in?