Stories

I just listened to a podcast by Brian McLaren when we taught at Mars Hill Bible Church in G-Rap, Michigan. There are a few points I want to make echoing his lesson. He spoke of stories that people adhere themselves to. These stories have been portrayed throughout history and we experience them now. Stories such as the domination story, the victimization story, the consumption story, or the isolation story are ways in which we try to either maintain power, retaliate at an oppressor, legitimize our selfish lifestyle, or retreat from the chaos of this world.

In history, people have chosen one of these stories to live by. Here are some examples:
-Power/Domination Story: "If we control everyone else, then we will be safe"
-Victimization Story: "If people would only realize the suffering we have gone through."
-Consumption Story: "If I just had that house, that car, or that tech gadget, I would be happy."
-Isolation Story: "If we stay away from all the bad stuff in the world, then we will be ok"

These are only a few of the "stories" McLaren spoke of. Essentially, he attempted to boil down different worldviews. Here is the important part: American Christians have co-opted Jesus to support their "story". Jesus with a machine gun, televangelism, Christian radio, Christian products, liberation theology, and many other examples.Instead of Christians embodying a new life in Jesus, we use Jesus to legitimize our selfish and misguided agenda. Jesus taught a different message.

The American Church is entrenched in an invasive culture that is constantly influencing us toward different stories. Advertisements, political platforms, friends and family, school, and many other influences draw us away from a new perspective and new life in Jesus. We mix messages and "stories" together causing explosive reactions. Jesus becomes militant, discipleship becomes book-smarts, and evangelism becomes judgement.

If you want to listen to this podcast, click here.

"Do [correction: To] whatever makes me love You more"

First of all, I just tested the battery life of my new Macbook today: 6 hours! That's just word processing and web surfing, but still, 6 hours is a long time.

In other news, I have a line from a mewithoutYou song that I have been thinking about for a while now. It comes from the song "C-Minor" on the album Brother, Sister. The line is "do whatever makes me love You more"

Correction: per Robbie's comment, I have misquoted. The line is actually "to whatever makes me love you more." That's what I get for trying to quote someone without reading the liner notes.

In the context of this song, the writer is asking God to do whatever makes him love God more. I feel that this is one of the best descriptions of "God's will" I have heard. The writer is basically saying that no matter what happens in his life, he simply wants it to make him love God more. This is really what God's will is; a course of life that makes us love God more.

For more, see the comments...

Recently, I have also read another description of God's will in the book The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. He writes, "The Greek word that lies beneath our English word will can also be translated wish. But to say, 'May your wish come true' sounds rather fairy-tale-ish and creates other problems. But I have found the idea of, 'the dream of God for creation' does the job quite nicely. 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven' could thus be rendered 'May all your dreams for creation come true.'"

So, to put these two ideas together I feel that a major aspect of the "dream of God" is for us to love him more; no matter the circumstance. Good times, bad times, things we don't understand, things we cannot change; we should desire to love God more no matter what. We must say, "do whatever makes me love you more" even if it means being challenged, transformed, or broken.

McLaren Study

I have decided to lead a small group for the Gathering on Tuesday nights at 8 o'clock at my apartment. We are going to read Brian McLaren's book The Secret Message of Jesus. I am hoping to discuss some foundational truths about Jesus Christ and his message. I have been reading this book for a few weeks (I am not done yet because I have too many books for school to read also) and I think it is great. Any college guys are welcome. I'm really looking forward to this.

Way to go Brian!

Yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase a couple books. One of these books was The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. As I went to check out, this girl at the cash register looked at the book and asked me what it was about.

It turns out she has a friend who was a Christian and became an atheist. This cashier has thus decided to read some books about Christianity to understand what her friend went through. She told me that she has read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and a couple other books.

So, when she looked at the title of Brian McLaren's book and saw the cool cover design, she was interested in knowing what the secret was. She asked me what the book was about and I said very cleverly, "I dunno, I haven't read it yet." But I continued to explain that it was a book about the gospel of Jesus that sheds light on the way American pop-Christianity has missed the point. She wrote down the title and told me she was going to read it.

Way to go Brian McLaren! That clever title and the cool cover design worked! I can't wait to learn to secret too.