Erosion or Evolution

30-40 years ago there was an incredible value in institutions that were present as anchors for people to go to in crisis. Churches, hospitals etc etc. Large buildings were constructed as icons of refuge that people could identify as places of help.
Old neon signs that said ‘Jesus saves’ flashing on the street, or large crosses on the steeple of the church etc etc. these Were edifices of hope in days gone by.

Today there is the claim that there is a erosion of the fabric of society that the icons of faith are being rejected. This would seem true if our icons have become more important to us than the essence of the kingdom.
I would suggest that there has been a evolution rather than an erosion. Faith and values are under no more risk or erosion now than they have faced in the last 2 millenia. BUT the icons or anchors are different and shifting from what we have known. They have evolved from institutions to people (we talk much about decentralization but don't really see that trickling down to everyday life). As people of faith we must be anchors of refuge and reference points in an ever changing landscape.
Your ability to be an anchor in your community is the metric of a holy life.... Am I separate is not the metric or more accurate ... what does it mean to be separate? We have so misconstrued the idea of being separate. Of course the scripture always brought up in these scenarios is 'be holy as I am holy' we instantly understand this term as meaning be separated from the world. What if it were to mean only that we are to fulfill what we are made to do… that we were to complete what we were destined for.
Fulfill the message of Christ through our lives. Not necessarily by our behavior but more so by the fact that we have a purpose and we are living up to what we were made for. How will people know we are different? Because we are doing what we are made to do? Not by what we do and do not do. As soon as Christians look to make a line of demarcation between them and other humans (ie we must be 'different' in our behavior) we actually fail in being holy... We cease in fulfilling our designed meaning in being faithful to our purpose.

The struggle happening today with what is known as the emerging and its erosion of morals is more a case of people in the past majoring on minors and creating moral codes for things that just simply do not matter. In doing this people have been left to re sort through all of the mixed messages to try discover the real issues. Some are simply lost because the real issues were never really made clear. Some are going to stray and be lost but part of this is the result of the mixed moral messages that the modern era has projected.

Man is made to live in community, with purpose and hope. The three primary questions of humanity are who am I? What am I here to do? Who do I belong to?
The secondary questions would be am I free to make choices? Is there joy in what I am doing?

Jesus claimed as his purpose…

Luke 4
18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to
the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Our purpose is no different...

To bring freedom from oppression in our neighborhood and abroad and help others find their answers to these questions. If the church is oppressing people with its mixed messages it has missed the heart of Jesus, it is being unholy and is not set apart as the scriptures truly suggest. A pseudo holiness is an accurate term ...

My whole message is summed up in this... Holiness (in a NA Xian paradigm) is not the most important message ... The most important message is that the kingdom of God is amoung us and are we living what we are made for? Who am I? What am I here to do? Who do I belong to? Am I living under oppression ? Can I be free? Or Am I free to make my own choices?

My struggle with the church, emerging or not is this ... And this is why I must admit... I do not like what I see... This troubles me ... It preaches freedom and deliverance but in reality it oppresses and blinds people from seeing the real Jesus. That to me is the lie of the ages... The intolerable hypocrisy that I pray in my lifetime I will see eroded into oblivion.

Now many who may read this may in their minds say 'Mark you go too far... We must have a moral code ... We must stand against this erosion and decay that we see deteriorating the very essence of our society.'

In essence I agree that there is a moral code that living by that will bring healthy and whole life... BUT... Our first goal in helping people do this is not by becoming a filter and declaring to society the evils that it is sleeping with... The value is that we help those that are oppressed get to the right questions. And the end of the day I am not sure if God is concerned about whether or not we were 'holy' but maybe he is more concerned about how we are breaking the bonds of oppression and bringing liberty to peoples lives. In doing that that may mean I might need to sit down with a person and walk with them through their addiction and rationalization of the behavior and help free them from their oppression. But a trite declaration of what is right and wrong does not bring freedom or liberty but can actually bring more chains of oppression than anything.

Your comments are welcome.

Leadership is What?

In some honest dialogue with a friend this question arose?
Is there a difference between influence and manipulation?

Influence: the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others

Manipulation: exerting shrewd or devious actions especially for one's own advantage.

Leadership is influence? or leadership is manipulation?

Some leaders reflect a leadership model that could be like

Magicians - using slight of hand to get results

Magistrates - Working behind closed doors to make things happen

Monks - in a world of their own and feel they must be distanced from the 'rest.'

Are some of the leadership practices you carry out to protect your own job or ego?

Is the deisre for accolades or internal satisfaction, or recognition leave you double clutching on certain decisions that you know are the best for your company, church, or group that you are leading but making those decisions may complicate your own metrics of success?

Are you ready to live in obscurity in your organization to see others succeed?

Does your leadership paradigm sometimes not allow you to be yourself and as a result you live a lie in front of the people you lead? [ie. I can't show weakness or incompentency]

Is your frustration with the status quo leave you thinking that you can do better, you have the answers and your arrogance in your absolute opinion isolates and marginalizes the people you need the most?

Is your frustration with a power structure that marginalizes you more a reflection of your Ego and not an honest desire to pay the personal price to see positive cultural change?

Do you project your own issues as a cultural dysfunction in your workplace? [you hate your current leadership simply because you can't have your way]

Several things to consider...

Web 2.0 in under 5 min

I could say alot on this but I will keep it short...

For those who are still thinking the internet is for your information AKA 'the information hiway' ... well ... FYI



Its more than a resource... or as some would cry as an unecessary evil... Do we understand the times we are in and the implications...applications of such a thing/time as this?
Do you see the connection? Can you make a connection to your faith/church/culture?

Maybe answer this... Can we seperate form and content when it comes to our faith? Are we Faith 2.0? Maybe this is part of the tension of the 'irrelevant church'?

Thoughts

Food for thought

Comment on this thought...

Its possible to do all the right things and still get the wrong results?

If so why are people so obsessed with getting things right?