How Emergent is Lutheranism?
Today, Skye Jethani wrote a little piece in the Leadership Journal Blog about the steps or "layers" to becoming emergent. I just wanted to use this to point out how Lutheranism is already there in some ways, just so some of you can start to see where my rants are coming from.
Layer 4: Mission
The emergence of Postmodernism causes Seeker Community Church to reevaluate the effectiveness of their mission strategy. Altar calls and gospel tracks are left behind in favor of community groups and relationships. Conversion is accepted as a journey and not merely a point of decision.
Yay. Lutheran were never much for altar calls anyway, but we've always been into the community groups, especially when there is coffee or beer involved. Conversion is a journey, and we're basically quadriplegics being taken on the Holy Spirit short bus. (I apologize in advance for any quadriplegics out there who are offended by this.)
Layer 5: Church
Seeker Community Church begins to wonder if a multi million-dollar building housing a theatrical production every weekend is the only way to do church. Drawing from new and ancient forms of church, they launch alternative communities—one meets in a bar on Sunday night, and the other is a liturgical gathering. The church also partners with an inner city monastic group to reach street kids.
Liturgical gathering? Did I just read that right? That basically describes most Lutheran churches I've been to...Woo Hoo, liturgy is cool once again! And even when it's not cool, we're still going to do that because, dangit, we're Lutherans and we don't change.
OK, so seriously, there is a lot to liturgy that most people don't even realize because they've never gotten to understand and appreciate it. I just hope that churches don't start doing it because it's cool, but instead start doing the Liturgy thing because it's GOD'S WORD. That that's cooler than being cool. That's Ice Cold.
Layer 6: Gospel
The leadership of Seeker Community Church is stunned when the senior pastor confesses, “I’m not sure I’ve really understood the gospel.” He begins to wonder why Jesus never said God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? And why Paul never asked anyone to invite Jesus into your heart? He starts to realize that the Good News is much more than he’d ever imagined.
I've been wondering when those evangelicals were going to stop repeating the stuff they were making up, like all that wonderful plan stuff and the crap about inviting Jesus into your heart. That's not in my Bible. So why do we insist on putting it into our hearts? And yet Jesus is so much more than we could have ever imagined. Even as I teach the New Testament and have been reading over the gospels, I'm finding there is so much more to Jesus than I ever remember Him being about. Ice cold.
Layer 7: WorldOh yeah. Any Lutheran worth his catechism knows that it's not about just making a bigger church, but making disciples by, say it with me, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you! Jesus talked a lot, and it ALL good stuff. There's also some good stuff in the Old Testament too. I guess you can just extend it over all of God's word.
Maybe the mission of the church isn’t simply to become a bigger church? Maybe, like Jesus, the church is to engage the larger world to reveal that the kingdom of God has drawn near? To their amazement, Seeker Community Church discovers significant swaths of the Bible (such as the Pentateuch, prophets, gospels, and epistles) talk about justice, poverty, and compassion. The church begins to speak about social issues and participates in efforts to combat poverty, AIDS, and global injustice.
Well, there you go. The emergent people are finally starting to realize what we Lutherans have known all along. It's all about the Bible. Of course, the article does not do justice to what Jesus did for me, but that's a different criticism for another day. In the meantime, I'm proud to be a Lutheran, and I'm proud that Christ decided to make me his own. I mean, how cool is that?
Ice cold.
posted by Jed at 5:48 PM
4 Comments:
Hmmm, thanks for the comment. I'll need to check up on this, I could be speaking wrongly about this. Out of curiousity, do you have a reference for me?
Thanks,
Jed
One of the reasons I still am beating the small gathering bongo. I think that most of today's non-Christian folks do not resonate with the megachurch gong. The Mega is so boomer; the program is so hard for a non-boxed thinker to accept. God does not meet us all in the noise, but in the quiet as well.
One of the great things about Lutheran practice and theology is that we can be quiet and introspective. Not that jubilous worship is bad, no, it's quite good, but it's not the only thing. There is truth in the ancient practices of the church, and some of us really love those too and want to reinterpret these to minister to the world around us. You can keep inviting people to a feast, but if they don't know they are hungry, they won't come.
I'm lutheran...and I think that being lutheran is a good thing...but I am not sure that bashing other Christians is a helpful tool...should we evaluate their ways in light of Scripture...absolutely, but let's be careful not to brand them with "mush" or "theological heresy" before we understand completely what they are saying. Maybe I don't completely understand and that's why I write this...but could it be that asking Jesus into your heart is the same as a maturity of sanctification that a believer goes through when maturing in his faith and willingness to live the life he is called to? What is Paul talking about when he speaks of things "in the heart" (2 Cor. 5:12)? And what are the "eyes of our heart" that Paul speaks of in Eph. 1:18 as he connects that language to all of the important knowledge we know as Christians...the very essence of The Word...or "doing the will of God from your heart" in Eph. 6:6...when we look at Rom. 12:1-2 we see that holy living and doing/discerning the will of God comes from renewing our minds (and minds...Phil. 4:7) with Scripture...The Word...(made flesh...Jesus Christ). Matt. 12:34-35 assures us that out of our heart comes good and bad we speak...why else would Solomon tell us to write God's commands and teachings on the "tablets of our hearts" (Prov. 7:2-3). I am not saying that you don't have a point...but could it be that we are struggling with semantic misunderstandings more than actual theological problems? When we are converted and progressively sanctified to be more like Jesus (Imitate Christ, etc.), isn't that having Jesus in our hearts/minds. The Hebrew word for heart and mind is the same word, and there is a conjunction throughout Scripture on the idea that the heart and mind are connected in some mysterious way. Is it really that bad to have Jesus come into and change our hearts? Isn't that what we want to have happen?
The great mind of Solomon in Ecclesiasties 3:11 wrote this: For God has set eternity in our hearts...he is speaking from a believer's worldview...is he possibly talking about Jesus, the Savior, being in his heart? A Lutheran way of reading this text (looking at the Old Testament through the eyes of the New Testament...Jesus) might demand this.
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