Suburbs

I just read the article, "Does Suburbia Hurt Christianity?" from RELEVANT Magazine's website. Very well written and lots of interesting thoughts. Since Arvada Covenant definitely fits the profile of a suburban church, it makes me wonder: how do we need to think about these ideas?

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/28483-does-suburbia-hurt-christianity

I would LOVE to hear what people think of it!

Life in the Pain

A confluence of events - a verse, two books, a song, and several conversations - has provided some serious food for thought lately, and I find myself consistently mulling over the idea of the role of suffering in the life of a Christ-follower.

Luke 9:23 - "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

This verse is the basis for Kyle Idleman's book, Not a Fan. I picked it up shortly before Christmas (actually, I downloaded it for $3.99 on the Kindle app on my computer), and I'm finding it both enjoyable and convicting. To be honest, I think it is a Gen-X repackaging of a lot of what Bonhoeffer wrote in Cost of Discipleship (book #2), but Idleman does a great job of explaining the subject matter while simultaneously engaging our current American culture, as well as our current American Christian subculture. He is winsome, yet bold; funny, but sincere. His thesis is that Jesus does not call us to be fans (avid supporters), but rather to be committed followers. It's not merely semantics; it's a crucial delineation by those who like the idea of Jesus and those who love the person of Jesus. What does it look like to really love Jesus and to truly follow Him?

Add to that a song that has been on repeat in my head lately - "Life in the Pain" by SafetySuit. The chorus gut-punches me every time I hear it:

"And what you don't know, it won't hurt you

And what you don't know will save you from some pain

But if I could choose, I'd let it hurt you

'Cause there's something 'bout life in the pain"

Ouch.

And if all that wasn't enough, I seem to keep having a consistent conversation with several of my close friends: if we serve a Messiah who suffered...and if our goal is to be like our Messiah...then don't we, necessarily, have to suffer? If so, what does that suffering look like? What does it look like to be a follower of a Master who was eventually shunned and murdered for His radical message of grace? Does our current American Christian subculture model that kind of living, or have we strayed from our Master?

What does this look like in our churches? What does this look like in our families? What does this look like in our individual lives?

Taking it out of the safety of abstraction - what does it look like for me, Josh, to be a follower of Jesus? What role does suffering play in my life...and what role should suffering play in my life? "There's something 'bout life in the pain." What is that something?

Appetites

So, I'm reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck right now. It is, quite simply, amazing. Steinbeck is an artist with words, and the layers of wisdom and insight in this book are astounding to me. If you feel like reading a good book, pick up this one.

One of the characters, Samuel, is a wise old farmer, about 1/4 of the way into the book he says something that hit me between the eyes. Samuel is speaking to another character, Adam, when he says, "There's a capacity for appetite that a whole heaven and earth of cake can't satisfy."

What a piercingly true statement! It doesn't take me long to come up with countless examples of how our appetites never quite seem to be satisfied. Look at how we live our lives - always chasing more and more, always thinking that our contentment lies around the next corner or after the next purchase or in the next relationship.

Have you ever gotten exactly what you wanted, only to discover that having falls flat in comparison to wanting?

It seems that in our American culture, we have embraced the idea that happiness can be found in the new, the next, the more, the better. We loyally serve our appetites, but our efforts are in vain because these masters are fickle and insatiable. The truth, as Mr. Steinbeck says, is that the capacity for our appetites is boundless, and if left to these untrained desires, there can never be "enough."

Welcome!

Hello, everyone!

This blog is simply a way to foster thinking and discussion. I like to write, and I like to think, and I like to discuss, so we'll see how it goes. I'll try to post a couple times a week, and if you feel like commenting, please do.