Seeking God, and intellectual stimulation, at church December 19, 2007
Posted by Zack in Michigan | 4 commentsOne of the happiest surprises when I first started exploring evangelical “on fire for Jesus” churches was how much the sermons resemble university lectures on history or literature—and how many people come to hear them anyways. It turns out people are craving intellectual stimulation, and will drive an hour or more every Sunday to get it at a church that serves it up reliably.
This week, I’ve been catching up on listening to sermons from Mars Hill. I just listened to this sermon by Donald Miller from a few weeks ago. It’s a literature lecture. And it’s fascinating. And 10,000 people from the greater Grand Rapids area showed up to hear it.
Also, if you’re an atheist or agnostic who is driven crazy by the “irrationality” of people who structure their lives around ancient Bible stories, this talk will give you a deeper understanding of what that’s all about.
Here’s a 40 second sample:
You can download the whole sermon for free (for the next eight weeks or so) from the Mars Hill teachings page.
Donald Miller is a best selling Christian author. If you look for it, you’ll start noticing people reading his book “Blue Like Jazz” in coffee shops and on subways.
Worship the Baby, Resist the Empire December 16, 2007
Posted by Zack in New York, Texas, Michigan | 1 commentThis Christmas, some lefties are telling people to “stop shopping.” And some Baptist preachers are telling people to “resist the empire” (and stop shopping). Isn’t it fascinating?
Listen to Mars Hill’s sermon podcast from last week with Chris Seay: “Worship the Baby, Resist the Empire.”
UPDATE: Actually, here are some audio excerpts from the sermon to make you more likely to listen:
Consumerism is the greatest threat to Christianity today, not evolution, secularism, post-modernism or any other ism; And this has been the story of the human race throughout the Bible; This is what Jesus came to undo…
While while we’re obsessing in our abundance, the reality is that across the globe there are levels of poverty that we can’t even imagine; How should that change the way we do Christmas? In our church, we asked our kids and they told us: Let’s channel these billions we spend on presents into helping the poor…
We are all God’s children, and so if we’re letting our “siblings” suffer, how do you think that makes our Father feel? Imagine one of your own children getting rich and letting your other children languish in poverty…
This is not how it was supposed to be…
A tale of two movements September 17, 2007
Posted by Zack in Michigan | 8 comments
We’re in Grand Rapids, Michigan (driving to Iowa from a training in Toronto). On Saturday, we ran into an anti-war rally organized by local lefties. There were about 100 people, and it was a pretty awkward, low-energy and demoralizing event.
Then, on Sunday, along with about 10,000 other people, we attended the regular weekly services at a church, called Mars Hill, where they teach that Jesus calls Christians to be peacemakers—and that even 9-11 called for a non-violent response. You know: “Turn the other cheek,” “Love your enemies”—these folks don’t skim past those parts of the Bible.
The lefty rally could not have had less energy. At least while we were there, no one even tried to chant one of the ten tired, old anti-war chants.
At church, on the other hand, a chorus of thousands sang beautiful songs of peace, love, hope and lament—drawn from a vast, 5,000-year-old body of poetry. A loud, fun band (with an accordion and harp!) lead the singing.
At the lefty rally, many of the young people looked miserable and lost. Afterwards, they walked off just as isolated as they were before (I remember the feeling very well). The organizers made no attempt to connect people to each other or build any kind of community among the group that showed up.
At Church, the preacher and other leaders repeatedly called attendees to get involved with others, a call that took many different forms throughout the morning: requests for volunteers to help with service projects among the poor and oppressed of Grand Rapids, invitations to join small “fellowship” groups that meet in church members’ homes, and announcements of dozens of classes, workshops and retreats. The sermon itself culminated in a flat out raw call for anyone who needed help or who was hurting to come down and talk to one of dozens of trained staff and volunteers.
At the lefty rally, the main speaker talked about a campaign to get Pacifica radio picked up by a local station. On the ride home, we scanned the channels and found at least four Christian radio stations. On one, a Christian psychologist was teaching a lesson on “absolutely unconditional love” in child rearing, saying that parents should affirm children equally when they succeed or fail, behave well or sin. On another, this Christian pop song was playing:
It’s crowded in worship today
A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the roadJesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of ChristIf we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way.
And that song brings me to the last thing I’ll suggest the left could learn from this massive “progressive” Christian movement: it’s capacity for constructive self-criticism. No matter how big their churches, their conferences, or their book sales, no matter how radically they manage to undo the influence of the Christian right or rejuvenate their religion, they never seem to be satisfied. Many of them look at me like I’m crazy when I talk about how impressed I am with the scale and energy of their efforts.
Just the other day, a minister we were interviewing for HeartlandInnovators.org, speaking about a huge national, multi-city workshop he was involved in, told me, “This all seems so small to me, because I know there are so many people who need this who we’re still not reaching.”
On the left, that kind of self-critique is rare, and when it comes, it’s often met with anger and excuses.
