Missional Explorer

My People!

I have been spending important ponder time on a story Hugh told at the Missio conference last month.  Hugh is a "Harley-guy" after being gifted a legendary Harley-Davidson motorcycle some time ago.  Apparently owning a Harley comes with a unique greeting to other Harley-guys that you pass on the road.  Awhile back, Hugh actually caught the Harley greeting from a guy riding a non-Harley cycle and was undecided as to how to respond. . . whereupon, after a quick thought, Hugh rode by the guy without acknowledging his out-of-context greeting because, using Hugh's words, "that guy was not my people"!

Like me, your initial reaction might be to think Hugh unloving, uncharitable, or perhaps even a tad arrogant.  But, after his subsequent explanation, I found myself in hearty agreement.  "My people", in Hugh's parlance, refers to those with whom we find a special connection in the deepest of brotherly (or sisterly) affection.  Words like "chemistry", "kindred spirits", or "unspoken commonality" come to mind.  As Hugh suggested (and by this definition), not everyone can, are, or should be "my people" and the difference is not one of value (as in "I am better than you") so much as it is who we are and what we can handle relationally.  While not everyone can, realistically or otherwise, be "my people", Hugh continued by saying that not even all "Christians" are "my people".  In fact, many are not!  Yes, we may be brothers and sisters in Jesus but, as every failed small group would attest, Christ-in-common is no guarantee of anything!  And, given the Christian tendency to "should on each other", I find Hugh's words to be refreshingly liberating.

But, to me, this also begs the question "Who then are my people?" in my own life, the people I find most affinity with as co-conspirators in or outside of God's Kingdom.  Who are the "my people" to whom I am most committed whether spoken or not?  And, finally, is there a community or communities to whom I would, eagerly and without reservation, "marry myself to" as a demonstration of that affection?

For my own spiritual health and well-being, I hope to more specifically identify "my people" in the coming days!

Racing With My Sons Someday!

I must confess that I have always had a hard time imagining or even looking forward to "heaven".  First, I am convinced that, as Brian McLaren has pointed out, salvation being all about heaven is profoundly "missing the point" about the importance of God's Kingdom here and now.  But second, quite honestly, I just have never gotten the "streets of gold" thing.  A new heaven and especially a new earth?  Yes!! But nothing else would seem to matter aside from the thrill of being with God and those who have preceded us into the next (more real) life.

But this morning in talking with my wife, I finally captured an image I would long for.  As an older Dad (I was 36, 38, and 40 when our sons were born), I never got the chance to play sports with my sons on any sense of a level playing field.  Being already well past my athletic prime, my sons have excelled in sports while all they can hear from me our my own stories of years ago which they, quite frankly, probably have a hard time imagining.  But heaven?  Perhaps heaven with a new earth and a new body to go along with it, I might some day be able to race my sons barefoot on a grassy sunlit field, me in my prime and they in theirs.  Who wins will not matter in the slightest but the thrill of the event would be heaven for me!!! 

Just Words on a Screen?

Today, I've gotta admit that I find myself discouraged with missionality.  I know emotionally and theologically that a missional/incarnational approach to life, church, and faith is a major God-thing.  But I also have to admit that life in Christendom has presently got me beat down.  It's like taking a canoe upstream against a raging current without a paddle.  There are only a few people in my life who even get the tension of living in our present context.  Instead, most of the time when I mention the disaster that is Christendom, I get at best blank stares and at worst accusations of slandering God's church.  That is one reason among several that I've had a hard time blogging in recent days.  With few kindred spirits who "see the same thing", my beard-dribbling prose feels like just words on a screen. 

One thing of which I am certain is my relief that the US elections are over and, as a major history buff, I take great joy in watching a new chapter in American history that I never thought possible.  After 400+ years of a racialized society, the US has an African-American as President!  While relieved that the lies and slander will now dissipate somewhat (but certainly not disappear), I must also mention that, along with my wonder and enthusiasm, I have a profound ambivalence as I see the worldwide reaction to Barack Obama.  On one hand, I do think that Barack may bring significant change to this country including a refreshing new breeze of cultural awareness that may improve our present ethnocentric isolationism.  On the other hand, I cringe as I see the greeting of Obama as almost a savior-messiah for our moment in history who will somehow right all wrongs and renew America's status as a "City on a Hill".  I'm sorry but Obama is no messiah and our country is no City on a Hill.  Jesus alone is the answer to our need and God's Kingdom, not America, is the last best hope for mankind!

So I struggle along in the "story I find myself in".  While still viscerally attracted to what Hugh, Matt, and company are doing with the missional church plant "Adullam", the rest of my family does not see things this way so I have decided to join the rest of my family at a nearby ELCA church called Atonement.  I do so for multiple reasons including (1) the refreshment of living the rhythm of life within the context of a church calender (2) the proximity of Atonement to our home (3) the vitality and commitment to issues of poverty and justice that we have found in this community (4) having worship surround the Eucharist rather than sermons and (5) having our family together at one location for the first time since New Zealand (2006) have all combined to make Atonement a seemingly good choice for the present time.  Now if I could only work my way through my Christendom malaise.