It’s Time Again to Recommend: “Mere Churchianity”

By Chaplain Mike

To conclude this week of remembering the founder of Internet Monk—the late Michael Spencer, who died a year ago—we point you to the crowning achievement of his writing life: his book, Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality.

If you have not yet had a chance to read this book, we encourage you to do so.

The book begins with a story about a youth group going to Dairy Queen, acting crazy and rowdy, leaving a mess without bothering to clean it up. Michael, who was the youth pastor, received a letter from a young person who worked at the DQ and had witnessed their behavior.

You also probably don’t know that I am a member of your church, but for the past year I have been an atheist. The reason is very simple: Christians like you have convinced me that God is a myth, an excuse used by religious people to mistreat others. As long as there are people like you and your youth group, I’ll never come to church or believe in God again. You are petty, selfish, and arrogant. I would rather be an atheist, no matter what the consequences, than have people like you accept me just because I was a “Christian.”

As Michael meditated on that incident, he recognized the incredible irony of “the Christian life” as it had been presented to him in the church. Though the church constantly challenged Christians to let people “see Jesus in us,” he realized that the following was true:

  • We had no idea what Jesus was really like.
  • We assumed that being in church would make us like Jesus.
  • We seldom studied the Bible with the purpose of seeing how it connected to Jesus.
  • In the name of Jesus, we were ungracious and unloving to people who didn’t believe exactly as we did.
  • We knew very little about what Jesus was doing on earth besides dying and rising again.
  • We assumed that Jesus bought into our idea of what was important in life.

The purpose of Michael’s book is to critique this “churchianity” that has little to do with Jesus, and to encourage us to seek a more “Jesus-shaped” way of trusting and following him.

Mere Churchianity is presented in four parts:

  • The Jesus Disconnect: In which Michael diagnoses and describes symptoms of the problem, and introduces the way of Jesus-shaped spirituality. “What I need is a real transformation by the real Christ, not the one that is manufactured by organized Christianity.” (p. 44)
  • The Jesus Briefing: In which Michael invites to take a closer look at Jesus as he truly is; especially as presented in the pages of the Gospels. “To understand Jesus and the God who comes to us in Jesus, we have to come to terms with the truth that Jesus is absolutely singular and unique. No matter how much research we might do, we can’t define him. He is remarkably exclusive compared to the phony versions of Jesus running loose in our culture.” (p. 77)
  • The Jesus Life: In which Michael discusses what a believer’s life might look like if he/she followed Jesus into a Christian life without adjectives, reminding us that “it’s a bad idea to be a good Christian”—“Jesus was not clearing the road so I could ride victoriously through life. He was becoming the road that would carry me through all the garbage, falls, and disasters that were the inevitable results of my existence.” (p. 135)
  • The Jesus Community: In which Michael addresses those who find themselves in the “wilderness” with regard to being connected to a church, encouraging us to find or start a community of those who long to follow Jesus himself. “The decision to pursue Jesus-shaped spirituality won’t take you to a building with a sign out front. You may have to look hard to find the overgrown path of the “road less traveled by…that has made all the difference.” (p. 210)

We invite you to participate in a journey into the heart and soul of Michael Spencer’s Jesus-shaped, grace-filled message by getting a copy of Mere Churchianity and reading it today. It represents what we are all about here at Internet Monk.

Lent V

Jesus Wept (detail), Tissot

By Chaplain Mike

Today’s Gospel: John 11:1-45

a sonnet

if only you had been here with us then
when your close friend, our brother, passed away
i know you could have helped, have healed, have saved
his life and kept us from this hopeless day
instead we watched him slowly lose his breath
we bid him drink and cooled his fev’rish skin
abstained from sleep and feared to leave the room
lest darkness steal the last dim light within
but you, you were not here! you were not here
when your companion slowly slipped away
what now? you come, but why? what can you do?
what words of present comfort can you say?
a single tear falls softly from your eye —
i catch my breath; you move, you point, you cry…

The Second Station: Jesus Receives His Cross

The Flagellation by Caravagillo
Scripture

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:27-31)

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.  Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). (John 19: 16,17)

Meditation

And so Jesus Barabbas, a condemned murderer and political zealot, walks away totally free. He is fully pardoned, never again having to face judgment for his crimes. He, guilty as sin itself, is now free to live. He is released from his prison cell and walks to freedom through a courtyard that is packed with an angry mob. In the midst of this mob he spies a man—a man perhaps about the same age as himself.

This man is worn, he is tired. Yet there is a look of peace in his eyes that perhaps worries Barabbas. Just who is this man, and why is he the object of such rage?

Continue reading “The Second Station: Jesus Receives His Cross”

Friday with the Fathers (5)

The Church Fathers, Kievan Miniature (11th c)

By Chaplain Mike

The Epistle of Barnabas is next on our list as we consider the works of the Apostolic Fathers, which are the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament itself. The main guide we are using for these studies is The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, by Michael W. Holmes. An edition with just the English text is also available.

Despite its name, The Epistle of Barnabas is a polemical essay set into the literary framework of a letter, rather than being real correspondence. And it is, in fact, an anonymous work, not the writing of St. Barnabas. It may be that the author’s name was actually Barnabas, and that he was confused with Paul’s associate. Or, as some have suggested, it may be that those who held that the NT book of Hebrews was written by St. Barnabas also attributed this tract to him, since it bears some similarities with the canonical book. It is widely thought to have originated in Alexandria, since the author’s hermeneutical approach and style reflects the manner of interpretation that was common in that region, and since the earliest witness of this document is Clement of Alexandria, who gave Barnabas equal authority with the General Epistles of the NT. Holmes dates it generally between the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the rebuilding of the city by Hadrian (c. 135 AD). Certain possible allusions, such as 9:4, which refers to the abolishing of circumcision, and 16:4, which may point to Hadrian’s decree to reconstruct the temple, would place it closer to the latter date.

The Epistle of Barnabas attempts to deal with a “hot-button” issue in early Christianity—the relationship between Christianity and the Judaism out of which it was birthed.

Writing at a time when the the level of competition between church and synagogue still ran high (and perhaps Jewish Messianic expectations), the anonymous author deals with both of these questions as he seeks to show by means of an allegorical interpretation of scripture that Christians are the true and intended heirs of God’s covenant. (Holmes, p. 370)

Continue reading “Friday with the Fathers (5)”

The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Die

Christ Before Pilate by Pietro Lorenzetti

Note: Saturday Ramblings is taking a two-week hiatus in order to present the Stations of the Cross. You will be able to read a Station each morning through Good Friday. Your Rambler will be back, I promise.

The Christian’s life is, in actuality, one long pilgrimage. We are pilgrims walking a road that leads through death into resurrection life through Jesus. From the earliest days of this new faith, followers of Jesus sought to walk the actual road Jesus walked in his passion, death and resurrection. The Via Dolorosa, or the Way of Suffering, is an actual street you can walk in Jerusalem, tracing the path Jesus walked laden with the cross that would be the instrument of his death. Today this path is marked with nine Stations of the Cross, with five additional Stations inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Not everyone can make the trip to Jerusalem to walk the Way of Suffering. But we can all still walk out the Stations. There are fourteen in all. We will present one Station each morning starting today and concluding on Good Friday. We have made these to be interactive, with Scripture, a meditation, an action for you to take, and a prayer. Take your time with these. Use your imagination to enter in to the suffering experienced by our Messiah.

One reason we want to present the Stations of the Cross is so that our entire iMonk community can walk these steps together. As you are reading and acting and praying, you will be joined by thousands (yes, thousands) of others in our community walking the same path. We were never meant to do faith by ourselves, you know.

Lisa Dye and I will alternate days in presenting the Stations. It is our prayer that each day you can be drawn into the heart of the Father, the One who loves us so dearly he sent his only Son to walk this path when no one else was walking with him, and to die the death no one else could die. As you walk this path, seek to know our Lord as he knows himself to be. Welcome, fellow pilgrim. Let’s begin a two week journey into the grace of our loving Lord.  JD

Scripture

At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them … They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You are right in saying I am …”

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him … with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man [Barrabas] who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will (Luke 22:66, 70; 23:1, 2, 23-25 with references in Meditation to Exodus 3:13-15, Matthew 27:1-26, Mark 15:1-15, Luke 22:66-23:25, John 18:28-40).

Continue reading “The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Die”

Lenten Meditation

By Chaplain Mike

Doggone it! I hate when life gets in the way of blogging!

This week’s “Friday with the Fathers” has morphed into “Saturday with the Fathers.” Our consideration of The Epistle of Barnabas will be posted tomorrow afternoon.

Until then, consider this Lenten quote from Joan Chittister from her wonderful book, The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life:

“Suffering is not a punishment,” Robert Ingersoll wrote, “it is a result.” Suffering, as we learn to go, is the price we pay to bring life to fullness, both for others and for ourselves. It is not to be desired in a neurotic kind of way, but it is definitely not to be denied. For when we refuse to suffer, we refuse to grow. Suffering requires us to stretch our souls to the boundaries of personal growth. It brings to the surface in us both strengths and weaknesses we could never, in any other way, know we have. It is not about surrendering ourselves to pain left devoid of meaning. It is about finding meaning in the center of the self whatever the stresses around us.

…If we are really meant to follow Jesus, then we must follow Jesus into every dimension of life, including into the suffering that is the price of it. We must look closely at how He handles each moment of life, what He expects in every situation, whom He helps, whom He chides, what He holds out as the ideal. Indeed, the life of Jesus is not a monument to the past; it is an invitation into the fullness of our own futures.

Memorable iMonk Quotes

Compiled by Chaplain Mike

“I believe that we are on the verge- within 10 years- of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity; a collapse that will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and that will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West. I believe this evangelical collapse will happen with astonishing statistical speed; that within two generations of where we are now evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its current occupants, leaving in its wake nothing that can revitalize evangelicals to their former ‘glory.'”

• From “The Coming Evangelical Collapse, I”

I think we can rejoice that in the ruins of the evangelical collapse new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. New kinds of church structure, new uses of gifts, new ways to develop leaders and do the mission- all these will appear as the evangelical collapse occurs.

• From “The Coming Evangelical Collapse, III”

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Difficult Scriptures: John 20:22-23

Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”  (John 20:22-23, NLT)

Another great moment for me in Arizona was meeting Rich and Gail McNeeley. They are a wonderful couple who, along with two of their children, drove 100 miles to have breakfast with us. Ok, so it happened to be Gail’s birthday and her family was taking her shopping. Still, I like to think that at least a few of those miles were driven in anticipation of meeting with more iMonks.

Anyway, as we were sharing breakfast together, Rich said he had a suggestion for Difficult Scriptures—the above passage from the gospel of John. Rich wanted to know how it is that we are given the power to forgive or retain sins committed by others, and how this relates to the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

So now is when we turn this over to you, the faithful community that make up the iMonastery. What do you think? If this really is so, if we really do have the power to decide who is forgiven and who is not, does that humble you? How do we handle such power? And how does this relate to the receiving of the Holy Spirit?

Help us out, iMonks.

Recommendations For Beginners

When I was in Arizona recently, I had the great privilege of spending time with faithful iMonk Jim Park. Jim lives in Minnesota, but was born in Cincinnati and is a lifelong Reds fan. That was gold star number one right off the bat. And he has spent many years in radio, something else we share. But most of all, I found Jim to have an incredible heart for making disciples. He said he was looking for a really good book to give to a family member who had recently begun to follow Jesus. Ah, baseball, radio and books. We hardly needed to be sitting in the best Spring Training stadium under bright blue skies in free seats for this to be a great day. But all that helped.

Jim’s question got me to thinking. What would be the one book, other than the Bible, to recommend to a new Christian? Let’s assume the reader is an adult who has fairly good reading skills. Where to start? Mere Christianity? Knowing God? Michael Horton’s The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way?

I just received a book in the mail today for review that could be that book: The Gospel Uncensored: How only grace leads to freedom by Ken Blue and Alden Swan. Just reading the chapter descriptions gives me great hope for this title, and I certainly hope to review this soon. But for now, I will open this up to you. What one book would you recommend to a new Christian, and why? Let’s hear from you, iMonks.

iMonk on The Evangelical Circus

“Evangelical” in the historic sense of the term—adhering to a faith that centers on Christ and the Gospel—the late Michael Spencer nevertheless became a “Post-Evangelical” with regard to the culture of evangelical practice, especially as it has developed in the U.S. Today we offer some incisive quotes from the Internet Monk on various aspects of what he called, “The Evangelical Circus.”

On Evangelical Media—

I think Jan Crouch’s hair is the darnest thing since the Tower of Babel. I think Benny Hinn is sincere, but probably unstable. I think T.D. Jakes is preaching gnosticism. TBN in general convinces me television is utterly incompatible with Christianity. Most Contemporary Christian music makes me wish I was wandering in the Antarctic wastes. A tour through the Christian fiction section of my local Christian bookseller reveals enough mediocrity to fill a small country. Christian radio, for the most part, makes NPR look downright intelligent. Evangelical cinema is bad- just plain bad. The best Christian movie ever made- Chariots of Fire- was produced by a Muslim.

Yep, those are my opinions, and as my dad used to say, all of them and fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee. These are my evangelical brethren, and in general, I think their product stinks. I know billions of evangelicals love this stuff, and always will. Evangelicals will soon be building amusement parks, world-wide satellite systems, movie studios and publishing conglomerates. But if the past is a predictor of the future, we’ll just be swimming in an ocean of tacky.

• From “If It Looks Like an Evangelical Skunk…”

Continue reading “iMonk on The Evangelical Circus”