like a fire

OK, I’m not saying that the “emerging church” is stupid. But I see a lot of things that are happening in the name of emerging, that are just stupid. The biggest is the word “missional.” This drives me insane. I hate when people make up words that don’t make sense. What does missional mean? It has something to do with missions? It’s the way we should act about missions? even worse than that is the way people use the word. I wan’t to write a song to the tune of Do the Hustle and replace it with the words Get Missional.

Why is it that to be perceived as clever and pioneering that people have to make up new words. Derrida has a lot to say about it. He says that words like these are oppressive in that they exclude the people who are not a part of using them regularly. Maybe that’s why this word is spreading like wild fire. If you don’t use it then you aren’t cool and clever.

Either way, I think this is a sympton of what we all seek. I don’t know anybody that isn’t in a constant search for something cool to be a part of. I have been looking at lots of emergent leaders churches. They are no different than many other churches. They preach, teach, eat and sin together (isn’t that cool?). Some of these churches are the least pioneering bodies of the kingdom, yet they are cool because they use made up words.

All of this means that I will regularly make up words here so that those who read will feel cool and like they are a part of an exclusive network of peopdom (see I made up a word for people in the kingdom). Please check back regularly for “insider” words that you will not want to be caught in cool circles without.

I have currently been reading this book by John Piper. It is probably the best book I have ever read for a mature Christian. If you are in ministry, I can’t recommend any better book. If you are a Christian struggling with what faith looks like in life, then this is a great book for advice. I have read this book probably 3 times in the last two weeks and I am still getting new insights out of it.

So I spent last night with a lot of old friends. It was great to be able to see them again. I was struck by all the differences in them. Many had grown and become more mature and all had stories about their faith and what was going on with them and God. Some of these stories were told aplogetically and some with tears, but all reflected a change that happened at some point in their life where they either stopped trusting God or started.

Among those I saw were a couple of people who had done me great hurt while I was here. I couldn’t see any change in them. They seemed to be the same as when I left. I don’t know if they haven’t changed much, but I suspect that I just couldn’t see the change. Isn’t it funny how the people we are most drawn to and who we love we notice the little things, while the people that repel us we give very little attention. Someone once told me that you can’t hate someone without relating what you hate about them to yourself. The shorthand of that is, the reason we hate others is that we see things in them that we hate about ourselves. For whatever reason, I came back to looking at people that I have hated and thought about what it was that I hated about them and if I was like them in that way.

I’m great at denial. I don’t think that the afore mentioned thought is true though. I think it is possible to hate something without it relating to you. What I think, though, is that it is easy to hate and hard to love. How hard is it to love someone who has done something you hate. I wonder if that falls into the category of “with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” because I saw someone who betrayed me and stabbed me in the heart and I could genuinely say that I felt love for them and wanted to ease their hurt.

So looking back, I think it is me that is different. Not in growing in maturity but in God’s grace.