A Relevant Gospel?  Part1.5

Where is the line
between cultural relevance and becoming like culture?  And what is a
culturally relevant gospel? 

Let me make clarify all of these posts up, I'm not saying we should
stop using technology from a certain point (otherwise I would be Amish, or
perhaps where sandals because Jesus did), but we need to teach people how to
use technology as tools. Tools and technologies whether used for secular,
Christian or even political purposes will always have a changing effect on the
culture we live in.  The best way (I
believe) to do ministry is to always keep the Gospel and Christ in the
forefront of our heart, souls and mind as the focus of ministry and to use
culturally relevant mediums to communicate it.  After all... I spend
20mins-45mins a day trying to communicate the G-d's redemptive work in me, my
family, my friends, my church, and through our the world on this modern day
medium we call a BLOG.  : )

PS - Jen, thanks for getting this discussion started... This was not a
stab at your comment, but a continuation of the conversation.  We are all on
the same side, the side of a redemptive Christ who is renewing humanity one
heart at a time.  Anyone who joins in the conversation, I think you for your post.  I've learned so much.

A Relevant Gospel?  Part1.4

Where is the line
between cultural relevance and becoming like culture?  And what is a
culturally relevant gospel? 

At the same time I see how
Paul (mainly), and Jesus (sometimes), would use culturally relevant themes (ex- the
unknown god) and for G-d's glory.  Paul taught that G-d did not
expect Greeks to become Jews and vice versa, but he taught a gospel of freedom
from worldly trappings and slavery to Christ alone.  I think we can and
should use tools of technology, after all they are the fuel for cultural change
anyways, but we should use them for the cause of the gospel.  If the culture is going to be changed
shouldn’t it be through the life transforming power of the gospel.  Just think of the amazing impact Christ
follower’s can make if we used all forms of media inappropriate settings to
communicate and impact our culture.  The
key however is the medium cannot become the focus of our ministry or it could
be detrimental to the gospel.  If the tools become the key to our
ministries, it also becomes the Christ or Lord of our lives.  Who of you
in ministry have felt at some point that being the coolest, hippest and most relevant
ministry consumed you to the point where you rarely thought about Jesus and was
always looking to be relevant? 
I know I have.

A Relevant Gospel?  Part1.3

Where is the line between cultural relevance and
becoming like culture?  And what is a culturally relevant gospel? 

As
Christians I do believe we need to communicate the gospel in word, action and
deed in culturally relevant ways, but I do not believe that means we align
ourselves with culture necessarily. Jesus didn't become Greek because it was
the cultural thing to do, and it was most definitely was the culturally
relevant thing to do.  Instead he spent most of his time loving, teaching,
mingling, healing and communicating G-d's redemptive plan to both Jews and
Gentiles, leading them into a kingdom of good news that was at hand.  He
didn't reverse his circumcision, endorse the gymnasium or stadiums, nor become
highly involved in the theatre.  Sure he was familiar with the theater and
stadium culture, but his ministry wasn't focused around them.  I think that
American culture is often in direct opposition to the Shalom of G-d, the full
complete life that G-d wants us to experience both personally and communally.
By aligning ourselves with culture we can often hinder the life giving peace
that G-d intended because our culture as well as all cultures throughout time point
to status, accomplishment, productivity, sex, power, money and self as things
worthy of pursuit. All are directly in conflict with the heart of G-d, YHWH. <<Deuteronomy
6:4-6>>

Seriously you have to give them mad props for there efforts here. The fact that legos don't have knees really hurt the chorography.

Compare it with the real Thriller video.

A Relevant Gospel?  Part1.2

Where is the line between cultural relevance and
becoming like culture?  And what is a culturally relevant gospel? 

The
fact that Jesus came to give us life and to the full is what I believe makes
the Gospel relevant to all cultures.  That G-d is in the process of
restoring and redeeming our world through Christ.  In my opinion this is
the reason I believe people are still attending church and it is why foreign
lands are drawn to Jesus like never before.  The reason I believe people
are leaving the church is not due to the fact that we don't have lights,
cameras, music, and kiosks, but because we have taken the “good news” out of
the gospel and we've made it about laws (orthodoxy) and practices (praxis) like
the Pharisees did.  Not that laws or practices are bad or that they should
to be overlooked and not studied, however it seems that laws and practices have
become our functional savior in many ways, not Christ.  

A Relevant Gospel?  Part1.1

To my
post about ATM Jesus I got the following comment from a close friend.  She
writes,

“Why
not?  For too long the institutional
church has drug its feet in relation to "going Greek" and when I look
around in America, I’m actually surprised at the number of people still
attending, but I'm a radical and think the gospel should be relevant to every
culture.”

I think
that is an interesting point that she makes and I would love to start
discussing with others. Where is the line
between cultural relevance and becoming like culture?  And what is a
culturally relevant gospel?  I’m
going to break my ideas up in to five posts over the next several days, feel
free to participate in the conversation.

I have
to agree with her that in this particular case, ATM Tithing, is not a big deal
and it is inevitable because they are adding a tool to aid in ministry. 
But I don't think whether or not we us ATM Kiosks to tithe in any way makes the
gospel more relevant to any culture, especially to our American culture. 
I think what bugs me the most is that there is even an article at all.  If I was the pastor, I would of just said why
not, and left it at that.  As the church it seems that we point to,
discuss, publicize, fight and often make a spectacled of ourselves all over our
cultural tools.  A few that come to mind
are bands, music, video, cameras, media, websites, publications, bible tracks,
megaphones <for the old school-ers out there>, finical programs, etc.  Instead shouldn’t we be pointing to our
Messiah, Savior and Redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth.  When we allow our tools
to be the focus they quickly become our idols.

Daily Wanderings

Will the I-pod ever die? - I hope not! Here is a very informative
post on why the I-pod will most likely still be the leader for years to come in
the MP3 world.

Do you dress like a Pagan? - Here is a post by Andrew Jones, the Tall Skinny
Kiwi, and emerging church leader. It's funny and insightful.

North Korea's Nuke Test - Seems to be true N.Korea has nukes and they're
testing them. I'm very insterested in seeing how this will unfold. I
was talking to my good friend and pastor of a church in Lexington about it and
he reminded me that
South Korea
is the most Christian nation, percentage wise, in the world. That will
make for an interesting mix. S.Korea's Christian population is often
something that we American's often over look. Also it's interesting to see
Japan's and
China's stance on the nuke testing.

Who plays video games
more, men or women? -
Answer, Women!

Google
Gobbles Up YouTube - seriously is their anything that
Google can't buy. With this purchase
for 1.65 billion dollars Google has greatly widened it's lead over
Yahoo and MSN
(if you as me). Yahoo in the past have has made some key purchase to
compete such as Flickr and
Geocities, but Google has been just one
step better with the purchases of Blogger/Blogspot
and now YouTube. I think a huge boost
for Yahoo would be to buy out MySpace, but
I don't know if they have the capital or the drive to do it. Just my
thoughts. Also Google has a deal with

Sony and Warner Bros. Music to post music videos online for Free.
Coincidence? I think not.

Lucas
to the Small Screen,
Jackson to the
Video Console - Two world renown directors head to different media
format.

YouTube
Wanderings - My blogger friend Ryan from Findlay says he spends too much
time looking at YouTube videos. He mentioned Tecmo Bowl, so I searched it
myself. Anyone who plays that game knows that Bo Jackson is the Messiah
(in that game of course) and is untouchable. Don't believe me check it out
for yourself.

ATM for Jesus  - 
seriously?

October of 2002 I was sitting at
Catalyst Leadership Conference
listening to Ron Martoia, an
transformational architect (whatever that means).  He told me to picture
going to church where I went to a dim lit room, there I would enter and sit in a
very form fitting comfortable chair, put on a audio headset, watching my own
touch monitor on the back of the seat in front of me and choose my own worship
experience.  Some where during the experience I would have an opportunity
to give tithe and offerings by using my credit/debit card and run it through a
read which is built in to my arm rest or on the monitor I'm watching.  At
first I thought this guy is a quack, but sure enough 4 years later...

ATM JESUS!

Check out this article of a church that has Kiosks
aka credit/debit card machines to allow you to give your tithes.  I'm not
sure how I feel about this besides it's extremely odd, but very practical.

HATE ME!

Have you ever heard a song that
was so disgusting, dark, and hopeless, but you couldn't stop listening because
it was so accurate and honest on the condition of the heart.  This song,
"Hate Me", by Blue October I don not recommend, but it has some of the most
memorable quotes that I can think of depicting the condition of young adults
thoughts and their heart.  This song brings up a excellent question to
those of us who are reaching out to the hurting, are we doing it because we
truly love and value them or is it because we don't want to feel like we've
failed them.  How often do we put our value as a person in how well our
kids do, or our youth group acts, how well our church acts, or how intelligent
our students are.  This pride can be a very dangerous thing.  In this
song the singer has truly disturbing thoughts, but very real at the same time. 
It is sad for me to say  that the youth of America feels this way about
themselves, but it's true.  I pray they know there is hope and that those
who love them truly and honestly do love them, they often lack the ability to
understand the fragment pieces of their lives.  If  their is one thing
I could give the youth of this would it would be hope.  Hope that passes
all understanding, a hope that puts these broken pieces of their lives back
together again.

(Verse 1:)
I have to block out thoughts of you so I don’t lose my head
They crawl in like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed
Dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I’m alone
Playing movies in my head that make a porno feel like home
There's a burning in my pride, a nervous bleeding in my brain
An ounce of peace is all I want for you. Will you never call again?
And will you never say that you love me just to put it in my face?

And will you never try to reach me?
It is I that wanted space

(Verse 2:)
I’m sober now for 3 whole months it’s one accomplishment that you helped
me with
The one thing that always tore us apart is the one thing I won’t touch again
In a sick way I want to thank you for holding my head up late at night
While I was busy waging wars on myself, you were trying to stop the fight

You never doubted my warped opinions on things like suicidal hate
You made me compliment myself when it was way too hard to take
So I’ll drive so f**** far away that I never cross your mind
And do whatever it takes in your heart to leave me behind

And with a sad heart I say bye to you and wave
Kicking shadows on the street for every mistake that I had made
And like a baby boy I never was a man
Until I saw your blue eyes crying and I held your face in my hand
And then I fell down yelling “make it go away!”
Just make a smile come back and shine just like it used to be
And then she whispered “How can you do this to me?”

I've been camped in commentaries, dictionaries, books, videos, and podcasts of Revelation (including the book itself).  Why you ask?  BECAUSE THE END IS NEAR!  J/K, well kinda.  Actually I'm studying it because I'm going to teach on it at our church.  Andrew, my pastor, wants to approach worship using Revelation as the backdrop (He got the idea from Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Seattle).  I'm a little leary about teaching Revelation because it's probably this single most difficult book to teach on because it is the revealing things to come.  Their are so many theories of the bible, but since we are appoaching it from the aspect of worship it's much easier.  Since most assume that John wrote the book, it is easy to take all of the Jewish imagry into account, but I also love to contrast the worship of the Lamb to Caesar worship of the 1st centurey.  If you haven't read Revelation recently, you should after all...

... notice it doesn't say anything about having to understand it.  : )