More on Redeeming Culture

Mitch has posted some great comments on yesterday's post, especially his emphasis that, as Christians, our focus should be on the "main and plain" of Jesus' teaching and example. Ironically, this isn't a contradiction to "redeeming culture" -- it's actually easier to focus on the main and plain, allow each culture to form it's own unique expression of their faith in Jesus, than it is to attempt to "Christianize" the culture (a mistake made by missionaries in the past).

Here's some great quotes from "The Celtic Way of Evangelism" by George Hunter III that speak of the Celtic Church's approach to this very issue:

The "apostolic" (in the sense of the Greek word meaning "sent on mission") team would meet the people, engage them in conversation and in ministry, and look for people who appeared receptive. They would pray for sick people, and for possessed people, and they would counsel people and mediate conflicts. On at least one occasion, Patrick blessed a river and prayed for the people to catch more fish. (page 21)

A second issue was indigeneity versus cultural uniformity... Celtic Christianity had adapted to the people's culture; the Romans wanted Roman cultural forms imposed upon all churches and peoples—a policy that was alien to the Celtic movement's practice and genius. The driving issue, of course, was control. That is why it was so important, to the Romans, for everyone to do church the "Roman way." Once any society accepted Christianity, the politically dominant Roman wing of the Church insisted that the young churches organize in the Roman pattern of dioceses led by bishops and learn to worship in Latin, follow the liturgy from Rome, sing the music from Rome, etc. (page 41)

However, the continual pressure for African churches to do church in European (and American) ways has caused the rise of many "African Independent Churches", who insist on the right to do church in African ways for Africans, and who are now growing much more than the African denominations still tied to Euro-American denominations. In the Harare meeting, however, African theologians advocated more culturally African ways for Africans, claiming that worship should engage Africans emotionally as well as intellectually. They observed that many "churches have grown by embracing African forms of worship, sacred music and dance, and by moving away from styles linked with former colonial rulers." (page 46)

There's more that should be said -- and I intend to blog more on this topic -- but right now, I've got a paper to write...

Redeeming Cultures

This is a scan of the actual Clan McAlpine crest that my parents gave my brother and I for Christmas last year. While I'm extremely interested in my Scottish heritage, there are some bits that obviously aren't all that positive. But there are also things that are inherent in the Scottish/Celtic culture that are godly and from God, and I want to celebrate those things.

If you haven't read "Peace Child" or "Eternity In Their Hearts" by Don Richardson, I highly recommend these books for their contribution to the understanding that every culture has "God's fingerprints" somewhere in it. Historically, many missionary endeavors crushed local culture and "Romanized" (or more recently "Christianized") the "uncivilized" cultures. It's always been interesting to me that the Celtic missionaries were more focussed on "redeeming" the cultural aspects of the people they took the Gospel to. They would use the (former) druid house of worship as their place of worship, for example. They would begin from the assumption that the culture was only "evil" if it wasn't submitted to Christ, but when the locals became followers of Jesus, the culture would be redeemed, bit by bit. Which, incidentally, is why we celebrate Christmas on December 25 -- the Celtic missionaries "redeemed" a pagan holiday and focussed it on Jesus instead.

So, instead of seeing Christ as opposed to culture or indifferent to culture, we should rightly see Christ as transforming the parts of culture that are opposed to Him, and redeeming those parts which were originally of His design. The Celtic missionaries depended a lot on the gift of discernment, rather than making a blanket policy that "all culture that isn't ours is evil". I'd like to suggest that we work harder at following their example, whether our setting is cross-cultural, inter-generational, or postmodern.

I'm Baa-a-ack...

New ISP up and running. DSL for Mitch's info, so now he can deal with his LDS problem from the 60's...

Todd Hunter has finally started blogging again. Hasn't said much yet, but after radio silence since mid-July, it's good to have him back.

I'm buried in late-semester panic, lots of papers to write. No room for much else in my crowded head (wasn't that an old Collective Soul song?), but once my brain gets unclenched, I'll post something more significant than random references to bands from the 90's and links to deliquent bloggers.

Theology With Skin On

After being immersed in reading Augustine's collected works against the Pelagians for several days, and seeing the lengths Augustine was willing to go to, including taking verses out of context, in order to thoroughly discredit Pelagius' teachings (a lot of which were flaky and heretical), I have come to the following belief and commitment:

"Theology must be able to look people in the eye."

Allow me to illustrate: (This is just an example -- I'm not trying to start a debate on predestination vs. free will here, honest!)

When I was in seminary in Toronto years ago, at a school that is reknown for its hardcore ultra-Calvinist viewpoint, I would often get into spirited debates with our theology professor regarding some of his teachings:

• that God has created people who have no chance of salvation, but for "God's good will and pleasure" (a favourite Calvinist phrase) they were created solely in order for God to damn them to hell
  
• that if a Christian falls away later in life, for any reason, then they were never a Christian in the first place (so ultimately, you couldn't be sure you were a Christian even if you thought you were -- until you died and woke up in the right place)
  
• that God is the Author of evil, which to our prof was an ugly doctrine, but less ugly than the alternative (the "horrendous" concept that humankind might actually have a free will)

This prof was only four years older than I was, and we were both new dads that semester, so I finally asked him at one point during our debate:

"Sir, can you honestly tell me that you can go into your son's bedroom, while he's sleeping peacefully in his bed and you feel the incredible love filling your heart that a father has for his newborn child, and think to yourself 'the God whom I serve with my whole life may have, for His good will and pleasure, already chosen to damn my son to hell, and there's nothing that can be done about it'?"

He was very quiet for a moment, and then quite honestly said something to the effect of "my theology falters at that point".

Which is exactly the point I want to make -- theology that is developed in the abstract and does not "have skin on" often ends in error because it does not take into account the Father-heart of God. It is simple to say (if you're an extreme predestinationist) "on paper" that only some people can be saved and the rest are created by God to send to hell, but when you look at real, live people -- you realize that "if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11 NIV)

You have to wonder, in Augustine's attacks on Pelagius, whether he would have developed his teachings to such a severe extent, if he hadn't been reacting against Pelagius. I wonder sometimes how many of our precious doctrines are based on our refusal to see any benefit in other peoples' positions, so we "throw the baby out with the bath water" and end up polarizing our theology far, far beyond what is reasonable and reflective of God's character.

St. Augustine, who taught for years that any unbaptized infants who died went straight to hell, later developed a rather unique invention ("Limbus Infantum" -- literally, "Baby Limbo") that said that unbaptized infants went to a place that was neither hell nor heaven, but was generally pleasant, where they existed for eternity. He could have just admitted that perhaps his doctrine of original sin & predestination might need some further thought & development, but he was unwilling to give any ground to those who believed in "free will", so instead he invents the rather imaginative (dare I say "heretical"?) alternative of "baby limbo".

Even St. Augustine, determined as he was that his view of predestination must "win", couldn't ultimately bring himself to look into the eyes of a grieving mother and say that our Lord & Savior's mercy was not available for her unbaptized child.

Early Worship Lyrics

Silence stands with open hands, hushed before the King
Joy believes and happily praises as she sings
Wonder sits in open fields, beholding all You're made
Desire seeks Your colours, each and every shade
from "Colours"

Jesus, You cried for me, when I could weep no more
You died for me, when I was dead in sin
You felt for me, when I was numb within
You searched for me, and brought me home again
from "Every Time It Rains"

Paint a picture of a lonely life
Paint a picture of a cold, grey night
Paint a picture of the loneliest day ever known
Paint a picture of a broken man
See that picture being born again
Paint a picture of an empty cage, where this bird has flown
from "Paint A Picture"

All of these songs come from Chicago's "Resurrection Band", one of my favourite Christian bands when I was in college. I loved their metal/punk sound, admired them for their hands-on ministry in the ghetto's of Chicago, and (to this day) think that some of their worship lyrics are way more profound and honest than most of what the Christian recording industry is producing.

Humble us to seek You, Father
Heal our land so lost in sin
Draw us from the bitter waters
To Your garden once again
from "Irish Garden"

Changing of the Guard

The pastor of our church has been commenting recently, both in casual conversation as well as in his preaching, about how many people who were very well known are suddenly passing away -- media people like actor John Ritter, singer Robert Palmer (of "Addicted to Love" fame), and even Gordon Jump, who played Mr. Carlson in my favourite high school sitcom, "WKRP in Cincinatti".

In the Christian world, the same passages seem to be taking place: Derek Prinze, Larry Burkett, Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade & author of the famous "Four Spiritual Laws" tract), and on October 29, Mike Yaconelli, the founder of the Wittenberg Door (Christian satire magazine that kept us sane during Bible college in the 80's) and Youth Specialties, was killed in a car accident on his way home.

I never met Mike, but I've read many of his articles, and listened to a few of his teaching tapes on youth ministry. Mike was hardcore when it came to youth work -- 43 years of constant involvement with youth and encouraging youth leaders and pastors worldwide. He was a nut, something of a prophet, sometimes confusing, sometimes infuriating, sometimes incredibly pastoral, and a devoted follower of Jesus.

"If I died right this minute, I would be able to say, 'God, what a ride! What a ride!'" -- Mike Yaconelli at the Youth Specialties Convention in Charlotte NC, October 24, 2003.

It reminds me somewhat of how I felt when Keith Green died a week before I started Bible college. And also how I felt in the fall of 2000 when my mentor, crazy George Mercado from New Yawk, had a stroke and remains unable to speak or have full use of his body to this day.

Life is short. Make it count.

The Disciplines According to Saint Todd

Todd Hunter wrote the following earlier this year, on the "Spiritual Disciplines" (fasting, prayer, worship, service, meditation, study of Scripture, plus a few others I can't remember just now):

"Spiritual disciplines -- done in reliance on the Spirit and the Grace of God -- remove the causes of our personal failures. This is true because the disciplines work on the inner or hidden part of our lives from which our 'automatic' actions come; things like cussing at or giving particular hand signs to people who drive in ways we do not appreciate.

"Think here about Jesus' words in Matthew 12:33-35 -- good tree (inner DNA), good fruit; bad tree (essential inner nature, DNA), bad fruit. Any thing else would be biological chaos. Apple trees easily and naturally produce apples. But no matter how hard they may try, no matter how much they may sincerely groan and 'religiously' agonize over it, they cannot produce pumpkins. Finally, Jesus says, "The good man brings good things out (from the inside or hidden part) of the good STORED UP IN HIM, and the evil man brings evil things out (from the inside or hidden part) of the evil stored up in him".

"How does one 'store up good things in them' so that they can then easily and naturally act from them? The grace inspired and Spirit empowered disciplines. Obviously, there are whole books written on the topic; surely more than I can say in a blog entry.

"The disciplines are 'indirect effort'. In practicing them, we do what is currently under our control with the intent, hope and expectation that they will enable to do what we dream of in our idealistic language. Watch 'The Karate Kid' with this in mind. You will see how Daniel-san learns karate in very indirect ways. By doing what he can -- scrub floors, paint fences and waxing cars -- he becomes the kind of person who can naturally and easily defend himself from even expert karate punches and kicks. Lesson: we cannot 'try' to be good (remember the apples and pumpkins); we must 'train' ('store up good in us') to be good."

Well? Whaddaya think? Can we "train" ourselves without getting all legalistic, paranoid, and neurotic about it?

Emo & Earplugs

I had the opportunity to play bass with "A Place Tomorrow" again last night, along with four other hardcore/punk bands, and this time I'm not deaf because I remembered my earplugs. I've always called APT a "hardcore" band, but they tell me that they prefer calling their music "Emo" -- short for (I think...) Emotionally Intense. Which their music definitely is -- very expressive, very intense, crank-your-speakers-to-maximum, and mosh/headbang/worship. I love these guys, and as long as they don't mind having a guy twice their age playing for them, it's an honour to join them onstage. And the smoke machine that kept blowing out of the floor vents onstage, right at my feet, was pretty cool too -- robbymac playing in a fog (somewhat symbolic, I'm sure).

Most of our youth/college group showed up to party with us, and we had a blast. People were very gracious with the old guy (me) in a sea of teenagers & twenty-somethings -- time will tell how many of them will continue to rock when they're my age! It was TONS of fun.

By the way, I've added links to YWAM's University of the Nations in Hawaii, and also to their main international site. Viewing their websites brings back a lot of memories from the Performing Arts YWAM base we were connected to back when most of "A Place Tomorrow" was in pre-school...