PHIL ANTILLA IS THINKING

#freebreadandwine

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:58:00 -0400

Nadia Bolz-Weber, founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints created a wonderful hashtag on Twitter the other day.

Two ideas caught my attention.

The first is the idea that “we basically just let anyone show up”. Biblically we are commanded to show a certain amount discipline around the Eucharist.

“So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”

- 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 TNIV

The early Church fathers also had significant discussions about the need for order around the Eucharist. Much of the discussion focused on what it meant to be “unworthy” to receive. In Sermon 227, Saint Augustine said:

“What is receiving unworthily? Receiving with contempt, receiving with derision. Don’t let yourselves think that what you can see is of no account. What you can see passes away, but the invisible reality signified does not pass away, but remains. Look, it’s received, it’s eaten, it’s consumed. Is the body of Christ consumed, is the Church of Christ consumed, are the members of Christ consumed? Perish the thought! Here they are being purified, there they will be crowned with the victor’s laurels. So what is signified will remain eternally, although the thing that signifies it seems to pass away. So receive the sacrament in such a way that you think about yourselves, that you retain unity in your hearts, that you always fix your hearts up above. Don’t let your hope be placed on earth, but in heaven. Let your faith be firm in God, let it be acceptable to God. Because what you don’t see now, but believe, you are going to see there, where you will have joy without end.”

There is a beautiful reality that Augustine points us to in these words. The Eucharist is not just a momentary experience but a sacrament of heaven, a physical way in which we experience what our eternity will be like - one of being entirely consumed by God.

Augustine might then argue that “being unworthy” has less to do with offending God, or even “ruining” eucharist, and more to do with an unknown or unwilling person entirely missing the point of what could easily be a life changing experience.

This is for good reason. The Eucharist is at the center of our life with God and it deserves to be protected from dilution or distortion.

However if protected “too” much, the Eucharist ironically will fall into danger.

Think of the Church that decides communion will “mean less” if they do it “more often”, so they decide to share the Eucharist every month, or quarter, or year - which then misses the point of this liturgical sacrament which is meant to be repeated and shared often, essentially integrated into your regular life.

Or the Church that decides it would be better to not even risk having “unbelievers” receive communion, therefore only the most committed are allowed and those who are new to faith or new to the Church are turned away from this grace of God.

This leads me to the second thing which caught my attention, the wonderful hashtag #freebreadandwine

Yes, we should protect the Eucharist. The early church had to install what we now call “communion rails” so that dogs would stop eating the bread. If we give people a bite of bread and then a sip of wine and say “Surprise! You just received communion” We are no more experiencing the sacrament than we are worshiping when we stub our toe and shout “Oh my God!”.

Yes, we should protect the Eucharist.

However, there is an element to the Eucharist which is easy to forget.

We argue about who can receive, about which bread is best, about when it will fit into our worship service…

And all to often we forget this simple concept about the bread and the wine.

It is a pure gift.

In the Eucharist we are not called to take anything. We are called to receive.

This sacrament is highly “sacrificial”. We walk forward and place our hands out in an act of surrender and from that moment on, it is out of our control. We ourselves can not complete the sacrament, we must receive.

When I serve communion at my local church, I often keep the elements close to my body, sometimes even holding them away from a person. It’s as if I’m playing a game of “keep away” with the congregation. This is so they are forced to receive. Hold a plate of bread out and everyone walks up and grabs. Force them to stand and wait and then they will receive.

Ian Cron brilliantly said it this way:

“That posture of putting your hands foward and receiving is the precise opposite of what went wrong in the garden. In the garden, what went wrong? Grasping and grabing. In the Eucharist what goes right? Receiving. You put the hands out and simply receive. I don’t want people in communion to even physically mimic what is internally a disastuorus posture in life. Grabbing, not receiving. This is the undoing of the momentum of Eden.”

So why then does #freebreadandwine catch my attention? Because it is just that.

Free.

It’s a gift.

You did nothing to deserve it. You did nothing to bring it about.

You simply must show up, to a place where they “basically just let anyone show up”, and receive a gift of free bread and wine.

And this act is so contrary to the way our society typically functions, that it is in a way, as Ian Cron put it, an undoing of the momentum of Eden.

In N.T. Wrights, Scripture’s Doctrine and Theology’s Bible,he simply said it this way:

“When Jesus wanted to explain to his followers what he thought would be the meaning of his death, he did not give them a theory; he gave them a meal.”

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:16:09 -0400

May you bring God’s wise order into the world.

- N.T. Wright

Our Saw-Toothed History

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:12:00 -0400

PSALM 125

Those who trust in God
are like Zion Mountain:
nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain
you can always depend on.
Mountains encircle Jerusalem,
and God encircles his people—
always has and always will.
The fist of the wicked
will never violate
What is due the righteous,
provoking wrongful violence.
Be good to your good people, God,
to those whose hearts are right!
God will round up the backsliders,
corral them with the incorrigibles.
Peace over Israel.

A friend of mine suffers from manic depression. His condition, which many are becoming increasingly aware of, is called “Bipolar Disorder”. His mood changes like the weather. One hour is good, the other hour is bad. One minute he’s flying high, the next the bottom drops out.

I often think that the worst part of his depression, aside from the obvious ailment and stress of an unpredictable mood change, is that he feels alone in this diagnosis. As if the world around him is carrying on with their days in a respectable state of being, while he is struggling to stay constant for just a few hours.

While I know that he, like many others in this life, can find a way to live with this condition, I often want to reassure him in this way. He is not alone. In fact, his mental state, his ups and downs, his highs and lows, are not all that different than the history of Israel, let alone the history of our own lives.

In Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience In The Same Direction he says this about Psalm 125, and our own personal security:

A couple of years ago a friend introduced me to the phrase “the saw-toothed history of Israel.” Israel was up one day and down the next. One day they were marching in triumph through the Red Sea, singing songs of victory, the next they were grumbling in the desert because they missed having Egyptian steak and potatoes for supper. One day they were marching around Jericho blowing trumpets and raising hearty hymns, and the next day they were plunged into an orgy at some Canaanite fertility shrine. One day they are with Jesus in the upper room, listening in rapt attention to his commands and receiving his love, the next they are stomping around cursing in the courtyard, denying they ever knew him.

But all the time, as we read the saw-toothed history, we realize something solid and steady: they are always God’s people. God is steadfastly with them, in mercy and judgment, insistently gracious. We get the feeling that everything is done in the sure, certain environment of the God who redeems his people. And as we learn that, we learn not to live with our feelings about God but by the facts of God.

…All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us. The opening phrase of [Psalm 125] is “those who trust in God”, not those who trust in their performance, in their morals, in their righteousness, in their health, in their pastor, in their doctor, in their president, in their economy, in their nation..

I remember when I first became a Christian, I was deeply moved by the idea that God was faithful. Enough had been said about my need to be faithful to God, but little was said of God’s faithfulness to his people. And yet with any solid reading of the Bible, one will walk away with not only an awareness of repentance of sins and commitment to God, but also, and maybe more profoundly, of God’s long and patient work of faithful reconcileation and restoration in his people.

An important truth of God is that speed is rarely a virtue. While may want God to intervene in our broken lives like a lighting blot, quickly coming in with thunder and speed, God most often moves like a vine rather than a lighting bolt. God is slow but steady.

In the saw-toothed history of Israel and of our own lives, this is important to remember - God is faithful. Philippians 1:6 says it this way,

Being confident of this, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. - Philippians 1:6 NIV

This not only implies that God will be faithful in following through on promises, on covenant, on blessings, but that God will be powerful and victorious in protecting them.

One of the key phrases in Psalm 125 is found in verse 3: “The fist of the wicked will never violate what is due to the righteous.” The key word here is “violate”. Peterson simplifies this by saying “nothing can cancel God’s purposes which are being worked out.”

Peterson’s translation of Lamentations 3:30 says it this way, “the ‘worst’ is never the worst”.

God is faithful and we will overcome.

A greek word to know here is νικάω or Nikao, which means “to overcome”.

It’s where we get the word “Nike”. One simple definition could be “victory” but a full understanding of this word implies that you carried off a victory that was never even a question. Not that you were confident in it’s victory, but rather that God was. While we were up and down like a saw-tooth, God never changed.

God knows that we will overcome, and will wait, like a vine, until we realize the same.

Walter Breuggemann on Lent, Good Friday, Easter and the...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:37:00 -0400

Walter Breuggemann on Lent, Good Friday, Easter and the “shutdown” of the way it used to be.

Thursday Thoughts

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 01:18:00 -0400

Today is Thursday. Here are a few things I’ve been thinking about lately.

THE CONSISTENT REPETITION OF LITURGY

In an essay for online journal, Didache, Charles W. Christian of Kent Church of the Nazarene in Kent, Ohio quoted a brilliant passage from spiritual guru Leonard Sweet. Talking about how a consistent framework of faithful preaching can help shape a community, Christian wrote:

In his book, The Gospel According to Starbucks, Sweet recognizes that Starbucks does not seek simply to create a cup of coffee, but an experience. This experience has to do with community: a place that shares a common language (“tall” instead of “small”, for instance, in regard to coffee sizes), common themes, and a common place of gathering to further the community. As a community, we have learned to “speak” Starbucks, because we have accepted the “story”, the experience, and the invitation to join in. Even if we make a mistake in our order (saying something in the wrong order), we are lovingly “corrected”: a non-whip, tall, mocha, non-fat; becomes a “tall, non-whip, non-fat, mocha.” This consistent repetition of the “liturgy” of Starbucks teaches the “language,” which helps build community. In the church, the community of faith, the preacher becomes the facilitator of this kind of community-building.

Allow your mind to think about that one for a little while…

IAN MORGAN CRON IS BRILLIANT

Episcopal priest, musician, writer and spiritual guide. I recommend that you read anything he writes and listen to anything he says.

I am currently reading his novel, Chasing Francis, which I would highly recommend. I also recommend watching a series of videos he did with Visual Worship Media site, The Work of the People.

www.iancron.com

TIMOTHY KELLER’S “THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE” IS A GOOD BOOK

Especially in comparison to this:

Here is an excellent and trustworthy review of Driscoll’s work from Rachel Held Evans.

The Gospel of John - Frederick Dale Bruner

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:53:00 -0400

It’s finally here!

Ever since I decided to embark upon a rather intense study of the Gospel of John nearly a year ago, I’ve been patiently awaiting the release of Frederick Dale Bruner’s commentary on the subject. I have grown very fond of his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, finding it to be a perfect balance of scholarly insight and poetic explanation.

I only received it a few days ago and am not far into it, but so far it is brilliant.

I’m sure you’ll hear more from me about this in the future. In the meantime, check it out yourself.

Where I was when I moved again

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:02:00 -0400

As I have been reading through Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, it has become clear how foundational the “The Songs of Ascents” are, not just in this book (which is the main framework for the book), but in the daily Christian life.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, the Songs of Ascents are found the Book of Psalms, numbers 120-134. Most likely sung in sequence by Hebrew pilgrims as they traveled towards Jerusalem for the Shalosh Regalim, the three worship festivals detailed in Deuteronomy 16, these are as Peterson calls them “songs for the road”. Now don’t confuse this with “road trip songs” - those are annoying tunes sung to help pass time. These songs are an expression of ones journey with God, songs for the “road” we will travel.

For those traveling to Jerusalem for Shalosh Regalim, the journey was both literal and metaphorical. Jerusalem was the highest city geographically in Palestine, meaning that nearly anyone who made this trek experienced a quite literal “ascent”. The trip however, was also a very present metaphor. When every step and with every song, these motions told a story of the Christian life. In stating the difference between “Tourists” and “Pilgrims”, Peterson states that the harmful assumption of this world is that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. In our instant world we are more prone to believe that God is more like a thunderbolt than a vine. We want God to moved quickly and powerfully in our world and our lives. And yet in reality, this is not how God tends to operate. God is slow. Steady and sure, more like a vine than a flash of lighting. So with every step, the Pilgrims climbing towards Jerusalem were not only singing songs, but they were as Peterson and Nietzsche expressed, experiencing a long obedience in the same direction.

The Songs of Ascents are not just a dusty, old songbook. They are an insight into our very lives. A reminder that this life is to be a long obedience, not a flash of lighting. We are called to be Christ-followers, not Christ-recognizers. With every step we take, we continue to live out what Paul was speaking of in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.

For many the book of Psalms in a devotional swiss army knife. A book that has something for nearly any situation in life. Many will read through its pages and find themselves saying, “Yes! That is how I feel”. Or even “I remember feeling that way”.
The Songs of Ascents issue a different distinction. These are prayer for a journey, for actions, for progress. They are not to be said while sitting, they are to be prayed while walking. These are prayers that signify our intent to press on towards the goal.

For anyone who feels stuck, at a stand still, lost or confused, may the Songs of Ascents provide a worthy inspiration. A short selection of prayers for people ready for life to start up again.

As Peterson believed, these Psalms were excellently described by William Faulkner, when he said “They are not monuments, but footprints. A monument only says, ‘At least I got this far,’ while a footprint says, ’this is where I was when I moved again.’”

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when God returned Zion’s exiles. We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune. We were the talk of the nations:
”God was wonderful to them!” God was wonderful to us; we are one happy people.

And now, God, do it again—
bring rains to our drought-stricken lives. So those who planted their crops in despair will shout hurrahs at the harvest, So those who went off with heavy hearts
will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

-Psalm 126 (a song of Ascents) - From Eugene Peterson’s The Message

Currently Reading

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:48:40 -0500

I first heard of Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience In The Same Direction while I was in college. Having been a fan of The Message, as well as Peterson’s overall insight into the world of Christian Theology and Spiritual Direction I was excited to begin this book. However, as it usually happens, I became overwhelmed with “other” needs in my life, things which I deemed more pressing: other books to read, more home work to do, more world to be ~~involved~~ distracted with. In the end, I flipped through a few chapters and eventually placed it in my bookshelf, only to be forgotten for several years.

Oh, how difficult it is to read books in an instant society.

In the last three years, I have grown very fond of Peterson’s contribution to contempoary theology and I have found his spiritual direction to be pivotal in my own life. And so it struck me recently that I still have this landmark book, sitting in dust, waiting to be read.

And so it begins, again. I will share reflections as I go own.

Until then, here is the opening to Peterson’s book, and the inspiration for its title:

The essential thing “in Heaven and Earth” is… that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.

-Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

We Dare Not Articulate It

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:11:00 -0500

In a video for the visual media site Work of the People, author and Episcopal Priest Ian Morgan Cron shared a very simple yet profound insight about Eucharist, and the overall experience that we share in community and with God.

Initially talking about his son, who is overheard playing drums in the background, Cron said,

“Some of the most profound moments I’ve had with my son have been when I’m playing guitar and he’s playing the drums and the two of us just sort of lock eyes, that’s amazing - that melody, that song, we’re doing that together. There’s a metaphor, and I don’t want to overhead things but we’re co-creating something in the moment and we’re experiencing each other “unitively”, where we become one, and something really great is happening and you almost don’t dare want to move, you just want to stare at each other while it’s happening. It’s great.”

Trying to make a connection between music and God, the interviewer asks “What is that “divine groove” that comes from this union?” Cron’s response:

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to even guess. That’s like the questions, ‘What happens during the Eucharist?’ And it’s such a shame that people try to articulate this. I like this idea, it’s a very Anglican idea, that we know something happens, but we dare not articulate it.

Matthew 5:3-10

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:05:00 -0500

³ “Blessed are those who don’t believe in God,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are the depressed, the anxious, the confused and the angry, for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the socially awkward, the over-looked, the ignored,
   for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who withstand the mockery Christians and still long for God, for they will be renewed.
⁷ Blessed are the loving,
   for they will be shown love.
⁸ Blessed are the good people of this world, whether straight or gay, american or not, or even republican, for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are those who act in this world, who fight to make this life better,
   for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those, who in spite of their pure heart, have been kicked in the teeth and drug along the ground,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “And when people mock you, when people spit upon you and your life and your choices and your human nature, when people point out your sin and overlook their own, when people believe that someone like you could never know God, when people say the “Gospel” isn’t for you, rejoice and be bold, because the God of all life, the God of the creation and the God of resurrection, the God of the 1st World and the God of the 3rd World, the God of the Gay and the God of the Straight, the God of every broken-hearted, lost, homeless, confused, weary and peace-depraved person,

is with you.

Always.

"Learning how to wait as a people of nonviolence in a world of war, you’ll know what Advent is...."

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:53:06 -0500

““Learning how to wait as a people of nonviolence in a world of war, you’ll know what Advent is. Advent is patience. It’s how God has made us a people of promise in a world of impatience, and Christ has made that possible — for us to live patiently in a world of impatience.”

- Stanley Hauerwas

Pro-"Life"

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:00:00 -0500

I’ve been thinking about the irony of the pro-life movement.

The more extreme example being those who are so pro-life that they will kill for it. See the irony?

While others many not kill for their cause, they may still act or behave in violent or “verbally-violent” ways.

In the more traditional sense, being “pro-life” means that you are against the idea of women having abortions. Most often, it is because of an argument for the respect and dignity of human life. The overarching statement being: infants not yet born are still human and therefore should not be aborted (others use “killed” to drive home the point).

However, here is where I am confused.

If you are pro-life, doesn’t that mean you are pro-life across the board?

Or do we draw a distinction here?

Are you pro-life?

Or are you just pro-life for infants in the womb?

Are you pro-life for foreigners in countries that our military invades?

Are you pro-life for people who have been convicted of a crime and are charged with the death penalty?

If being pro-life for children means trying to end abortion clinics, does being pro-life for all people also mean trying to end the sale of weapons?

Or is that different?

Or are you just semi-pro-life?

"God cares not only about redeeming souls but also about restoring his creation. He calls us to be..."

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:09:54 -0400

“God cares not only about redeeming souls but also about restoring his creation. He calls us to be agents not only of his saving grace but also of his common grace. Our job is not only to build up the Church but also to build a society to the glory of God. As agents of God’s common grace, we are called to help sustain and renew creation, to uphold the created institutions of family and society, to pursue science and scholarship, to create works of art and beauty, and to heal those suffering from the results of the Fall.”

- Charles Colson & Nancy Pearson , How Now Shall We Live?

Quote from Thomas à Kempis on my office wall: “Keep...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:40:58 -0400

Quote from Thomas à Kempis on my office wall: “Keep yourself a stranger and a pilgrim upon this earth, to whom the affairs of this world are of no concern. Keep your heart free and lifted up to God, for here you have no abiding city.”

Brilliant example of creative media for & within the Church.

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:49:27 -0500

Brilliant example of creative media for & within the Church.

"(On the doctrine of Inspiration and interpreting Paul’s writings) My whole energy of..."

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:56:00 -0400

“(On the doctrine of Inspiration and interpreting Paul’s writings) My whole energy of interpreting has been expended in an endeavor to see through and beyond history into the spirit of the Bible, which is the Eternal Spirit. What was once of grave importance, is so still. What is to-day of grave importance - and not merely crotchety and incidental - stands in direct connection with that ancient gravity. If we rightly understand ourselves, our problems are the problems of Paul; and if we be enlightened by the brightness of his answers, those answers must be ours.”

- Karl Barth - The Epistle to the Romans

Being Holy and the Social Gospel

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:34:00 -0400

I have always been fascinated with the Social Gospel. It seems so simple, so obvious, and yet so often overlooked.

Call it what you want; social gospel, social justice, missional, Christian, socialist… either way, the ideas expressed in the Social Gospel are not only accommodating with our Christian doctrine, but encouraging and challenging to our call as followers of Christ.

As a member of the Church of the Nazarene, we have a long history with the Social Gospel, even before there was such a determined thing. Think back to the Los Angeles Church of the Nazarene and their clear ideas of serving the poor incarnationaly and providing the destitute with food, shelter, clothes and the hope of the gospel.

Furthermore, there is a strong relationship between the Social Gospel and the Church of the Nazarene’s quest for Holiness.

I often think that in our desire for perfection, we easily become too consumed. Think back to the Church of the Nazarene from 1915-1945. Part of American Protestantism was focused on the modernism and the social gospel, while the other portion was fundamentalist and in strong rejection of it. While there is certainly a case to be made against socializing with “evil” people, this got an upper hand on the early COTN. What once was a denomination bent on helping the poor, was now a church that needed to distance themselves from the lower lives of society. It was necessary to abstain from vices so that we would not be associated with the corrupt people outside of the Church.

Even in 2010, we deal with this. What then is the connection between Holiness and the Social Gospel?

“The spiritual perfection of Jesus consists in the fact that he was so simply and completely filled with the love of God and man that he gave himself to the task of the Kingdom of God without any reservation or backsliding. This is the true standard of holiness. The fact that a man is too respectable to get drunk or to swear is no proof of his righteousness. His moral and religious quality must be measured by the intelligence and single-heartedness with which he merges his will and life in the divine purpose of the Kingdom of God. By contrast, a man’s sinfulness stands out in its true proportion, not when he is tripped up by ill-temper or side-steps into shame, but when he seeks to establish a private kingdom of self-service and is ready to thwart and defeat the progress of mankind toward peace, toward justice, or toward a fraternal organization of economic life, because that would diminish his political privileges, his unearned income, and his power over the working classes.”

-Walter Rauschenbush, “A Theology for the Social Gospel”, pg. 51

theology battleship

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:53:55 -0400

I love theology.

To me, it’s like an art. Maybe even a dance.

There are certain moves you should make. Certain ways to speak. It’s a dialogue that exists between two or more people, but simultaneously exists in a timeless way. When I speak, I am entering into a conversation that is thousands of years old. When I take part in theology, all of history is my dialogue partner.

When I am in a moment of dialogue, discussing topics of theology, I do my best to speak as Christ himself would speak. I listen. I question. I bob & weave.

For the most part, I even maintain a calm tone. I am focused more on saying a few things simply rather than saying a many things ambiguously. Yet there are times when I debate. I banter over a certain idea. Yet even in these moments, I stay focused on the purpose of theology - to lead us in worship of God. You may think “theology” has other motives, but this is it - worship. Any theological conversation that isn’t rooted in a desire to be drawn closer to the living God, that doesn’t bring you to a position of humility and amazement, that doesn’t lead you to worship, is simply a waste of time. There is not point to “winning” theology.

So the purpose of theology is worship.

Why then do so many people play “theology battleship”?

Each person taking turns, launching their best “attack”. Doing their best to “sink” their opponents theology.

The game lasts several turns, both opponents fighting to the very end. Each desperately trying to stay afloat.

Until ultimately, one miserably declares - “you sunk my theology”

I think we can do better than this.

the Church in the old empire

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:10:49 -0500

I recently read this statement which described the early church of the Nazarene. It said:

“Nazarenes protested fine, expensive church buildings, rather everything should say “welcome” to the poor”

This is obviously interesting, since few churches of the Nazarene these days follow this idea.

However, I am not “against” large churches. Nor am I against the idea that a church can’t cost money.

In 2010, the truth is that if you want a building or facility to worship in, it WILL cost money. And chances are,it will cost a lot of money.

But the idea that catches my mind is more revolved around the notion of “church buildings”.

Often I think that it would be amazing to see churches rising up not in giant buildings that look like city centers, or arenas, but rather are being built “into” old buildings, or the old “empire” as I like to say.

Like a church moving from their nice stadium like place, to what used to be an old industrial plant. Not only would that be cool, but it has a certain intentionality to it, not to mention an incarnational sense.

Take a desperate urban area like LA, and imagine a church reaching thousands of people daily, that isn’t nestled upon a hill in a giant building that looks like a museum, but rather in an old mall that has been shut down because of the bad economy.

I think of an old mall I used to drive by every day. The only people to be seen at this mall were the poor and the homeless. They were always there, hanging around outside, or loitering around inside. This old destitute mall was their meeting place, a fair capitol of the poor, old empire.

Seems like this is where the Church should be.

Would you join this church?

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:51:47 -0500

Would you join this church?

…a simple, primitive church, a church of the people and for the people. It has no new doctrines, only the old, old BIble truths. It seeks to discard all superfluous forms and ecclesiasticism and go back to the plain simple words of Christ. It is not a mission, but a church with a mission. It is a banding together of hearts that have found the peace of God, and which now in their gladness, go out to carry the message of the unsearchable riches of the gospel of Christ to other suffering , discouraged, sin-sick souls. It’s mission is to everyone upon whom the battle of life has been sore, and to every heart that hungers from cleansing from sin. Come

On the day that the Church of the Nazarene became officially organized, this was the first piece of literature they produced; a small advertisement that described what the COTN was like.

I wonder how many of our churches could live up to this today?

It’s a least a goal to aspire towards.