When does cynicism cross a line, or is it even cynicicism?

Posted April 17, 2009 By Andrea and has 7 comments.

To my lovely lovely friends who ocassionally peruse this blog, I have a question to pose. And I would like an honest opinion.

I do not like huge organized events where “Christians” help the “less fortunate.” I will even go so far as to think that they are not effective because the people doing the serving leave feeling better than the ones that received the service. I know (I know okay) in the dim corner of my smoky mind that this is not always true, but I still feel a cringe when I hear advertisements that seem very “Look at us- we’re doing something awesome!” I feel really convicted that the life of Jesus was not that, at all. People showed up and received help because he was doing something real that people believed in, I certainly don’t think they stuck a flashy poster on the message board for Galilee and its surrounding areas.

Church marketing these days has taken a decidedly trendy turn. Sure, we want people to come, but WHY do we want them to come? Are we effective or do we truly teach the gospel when we say come because we have XYZ or we do XYZ. It almost seems as disingenuous as the guy who sells holy water on TV. I know people there care about Jesus, understand some of his teachings, so why do we have to sell him? If we were living the way we are supposed to be, showing the kindness we are supposed to show, would we have to? Would we have to have large organized events that are just as much about attracting attention as they are about reaching people. Because as humans, we have to admit, WE HAVE TO, that our deep down intentions are not as good as we make them out to be. And when we examine that, do we then have to examine how we can be different and TRULY the way God intended us. How much does that strip away and how much does that leave of what we have today. Do we need “outreach” or can we just, everyday, reach out, and have a real relationship with groups differing from us that might see a real long term transformation. The church seems to largely view success in the world’s terms: money and numbers. Would we need the bells and whistles if we didn’t do that?

I would really like some differing perspectives here. Part of me feels cynical and judgmental for feeling this way, and part of that just thinks that’s good ol’ guilt and that at some point transformation has to come without feeling bad about it not always being how you thought! Please share! :)

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Anne Jackson stole my blog topic

Posted January 30, 2009 By Andrea and has 2 comments.

Hehe.

Not really.

Yesterday I read her Ted Haggard post and I was like well I guess my post is gone. If only I had posted earlier. Argh!
:) I am only joking.

I just wanted to go ahead and write what I noted, because like Anne, Ted’s story saddened me on Wednesday. I saw his wife and children with him on Oprah and their support was amazing. But what struck me most about the whole conversation, what knocked the breath out of me because I have been a part of a pastor’s family my whole life, and at that a pastor who had problems that were kept hidden, was when he said “I kept trying to work it out in spiritual circles and I couldn’t.”

He admits that he would start to share, only to be shut down.

How can we as Christians ”shut down” and then say we believe everyone to be worthy of salvation? How can we work so hard to keep some out and some in?

I am faced now with my own prejudices and the dark glasses I have worn in regards to some problems and not others. But to paraphrase another thing Ted said, never have I realized more how in need we all are for God’s redemption and salvation. And he does accept anyone. And on top of that, he loves us.

So I’m not upset that a few people have the same blog topic. For once I’m excited. I think it is a message we all need to be waking up to. 

So today, have a little (spritual) compassion.

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Categories: Church "issues", Compassion
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It's a New Day

Posted January 15, 2009 By Andrea and has no comments yet.

I don’t particuarly love Avalon, not that they are not talented, it is just not exactly my kind of music. All morning I have had this song in my head though

It’s a new day
Oh, it’s a new time
And there’s a new way
I’m gonna live my life
All the old has, passed away
And the new has come
Thank God, It’s a brand new day

I feel that somehow, although I did not even ask for it, God is replenishing me. 2008 was a year of extreme highs and lows (I got married, my parents got divorced, my grandfather died, I went on an actual vacation- my first in years!).

I was thinking about the new ways I see being thought in church, and the slow push towards the middle in political arenas. Okay, so we are not anywhere close to perfect, and we will probably continue a push and pull over some issues for years. I mean, can you ever believe that Christians thought it right to separate races from one another? Some of our debates are ludicrous, and should be lost. Others might only become more heated. But, needless to say, I am excited for the opportunity I see in several arenas to think and feel in accordance with our call in scriptures. And no, we don’t all agree. But I love what Blogging Faith said yesterday,

…conflict isn’t an end in itself, and we shouldn’t be reflexively distrustful of common ground.

You see, we have it. We just have to find it. I think compromising ones ideals is different than compromising morals. There is more than one perspective around. Everyday is a new day right?

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Categories: Church "issues", Politics?, Spiritual Reflections
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Us and them, or us with them?

Posted January 13, 2009 By Andrea and has 1 comment.

Last week I was driving my car in downtown Atlanta and I just turned to my husband and said, “You know, people are looking for something real, not something different.” And I think it’s very true. In a recent post I talked about realizing we need to roll up our sleeves and get dirty, and I never thought that was more real before this weekend. Driving through the streets of Atlanta is normal for me now, but I remember when it wasn’t.

I remember as a child wrinkling up my nose to the stench of urine on one street, and looking wide eyed from my car windows to the high rise condos less than half a mile away, Wondering perhaps, where the celebrities of the moment were living, what kind of jobs or lives these people led. I didn’t much wonder about the lives of those that lived on the streets of stench. I knew from the smell that their lives were different, not all happy and not all full of the things that we are so programmed to desire.

I remember when it did hurt my heart, it still does, but not in the way that it interferes with my concept of reality. It no longer immediately strikes my heart- it shouldn’t be this way. For it has always been this way. With newer condos and more trash, the divide only seems to be getting wider. And the church, for the most part, still isn’t speaking against the stuff that purports these divides. I would say that it’s okay to attain stuff, but I am no longer sure that it is. I am not sure, because I see Christ followers that wouldn’t give it away. Not even if begged. And now the church is getting to the point where they are saying it is neccessary for them to have this “stuff” to minister. I understand using things for the glory of God, but if people are really looking for what’s real, not just what is new and different, do we really have to use this stuff to compete with the world? We aren’t using it all for the glory, we are using it to get noticed. I love what Len Sweet said- “I hate the word relevant….because the church doesn’t have to try to be relevant. Jesus is always relevant!” Don’t we already have what everyone is wanting, what everyone is hungry for? We don’t have to use our methods to sell it. In some ways, it can even cheapen it. The way we have been doing things show no difference between us and the world. In fact, it condones and advertises its ways. I cannot buy into it anymore. It is to the point where it is making me physically ill. And I feel alone at times, and I feel negative, and cynical, but I pray and I cry out and it doesn’t change, the feeling- that conviction about our responsibility to rebuke it and show Jesus’ message in a way that is JUST that- doesn’t go away. But godly people all around me are buying in, they are eating it up, and I simply don’t know what to do. I don’t know God. I don’t know.

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When is my magic year?

Posted August 21, 2008 By Andrea and has 2 comments.

So, I have been thinking a lot about age and when exactly my time to figure things out will be. Now, I know that I am not going to sit around waiting for something to happen, I am trying to go after my passions (one of them being writing) and find some new arenas in which to serve. I love serving, but I can tell you, if you are in the wrong place and not doing something God gifted you to do, the burnout will come a lot faster. Let’s just say I have some experience with this. I want to do something big for Jesus, and I know to do this I have to be following after and leading in the areas he has given me a passion for. That is not to say you will immediately love everything God has gifted you for, I admit I am very trepidatious to being super involved in churches, mostly because I hate the politics. But, I also admit that it makes me feel alive to be involved in the church and helping to shape it towards becoming an avenue for Christ following and not simply meandering around feeling good about ourselves because we are in church.

So, I feel like 28 might be a magic year and I am only 26. I mean, Anne Jackson’s blog blew up and she is 28, Shaun King is busy having amazing ideas for Courageous Church and he is 28. Maybe 28 will be my year. Okay, so I know it is not all about a year, but it is all about having confidence to do what God wants you to do at any age. Ten years ago it was hard to find role models in the church who were under 30, and even harder to find them being not male!! I am grateful and estatic to see that younger people are having an impact and having the COURAGE (what a word) to stand up and do what God called me to do. I have been brought to this time in my life for a reason, and while I was not this confident at 23, I might have been ready had I been listening to God a little more. So, now I am listening and I am ready and excited. No more running scared Andrea. Two and a half years ago I had a problem saying the word boyfriend, now I am about to start saying HUSBAND! So, commitment has been found, trust has begun to heal (this is a process after a lot of men issues I might later address), and most of all I feel the love and acceptance of a Savior who has been so good to me. So, I am ready God. For this life, this year, whatever your Word may bring. I mean, Anne and Shaun are both cool, but did you know that Martin Luther King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott at 26? I mean, I’m just saying….

Do not be afraid to live out God’s will in your life. No matter what your age, color, gender or situation. He has a plan so big, even you will be surprised. Don’t listen to the naysayers and the pharisees, listen to Jesus and remember that “He is with you always, even to the end of the earth.” Matthew 28:20

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Categories: Church "issues", Random, Relationships, Spiritual Reflections
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I have a problem

Posted August 15, 2008 By Andrea and has 11 comments.

It’s called…. being judgmental. I am sure that is only one problem on a long list of others that any number of people could write. But, I come into situations and I immediately scope it (or him or her) out and judge. Sometimes it is a positive judgment….but that is not usually what that word connotates is it?

So, last night Andy and I went to Buckhead Church for their worship service. Andy was pumped, he loves to worship in singing, and I was excited to be hearing some good worship music as well. But as soon as we got there my mind started going and I started jumping to all the ways that the mega church is anti-organic and spends way too much money on technical equipment. I actually came up with a plan in my mind to cut everyone’s salaries in the church by a 1-5% margin and use that money to instill all energy efficient lighting and have a food line set up for people who might come to church hugnry. Do we even do this at my own church???? No. Should we? Maybe. Ok ok! I know it is not very realistic, but it is idealistic, and sometimes that can work….

Anyway, I tend to lean on the side of thinking that this kind of worship was not what God intended, but my lovely fiance reminded me that there were many people who were walking in that room to worship God that might not come in a situation that looked or felt otherwise. He is right (I seriously HOPE that he does not read too much into that statement).  :)   Furthermore, it is not my job to decide what is right or what is wrong. I have my personal convictions, and all I can do is follow those. The greatest of these being love others. Rich, poor, Buckhead Church, or monastic community. Now, I have seen on several blogs recently people defending the mega-church model and citing the reasons why people are wrong in their criticisms. I have read those with a bemused state, because those are the uneducated and jealous criticisms I hear, not the heartfelt concerns for the direction of churches in general (whether mega or not) that I think tends to target bigger churches simply because of the buy in of some to the consumerist culture of America. We cannot change Biblical standards for our churches, but sadly many of them are overlooked as dated. So, I do believe there are some legitimate concerncs, but they exist to some degree for all churches. They are just more visible where there is more happening. Do I think that as brothers and sisters we should share with others our convictions in a loving and healthy way? Of course. But, I also think that they probably have plenty of people telling them what to do and what not to do. Maybe I will send them a letter letting them know my “idea” though. Who knows? They might love it. And by the way, their worship music was awesome. And, I even got in some authentic prayer time (Don’t tell).   

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