"We are very different people with diverse personalities. We are one, but we are definitely not the same." -Larry Mullen Jr.
I went to a lecture tonight called "East Meets West: What the West is Missing about Ancient Christianity." And while I found alot of it fascinating and relevant, I couldn't help but notice that the author always, after every point, brought it back to, "What the West does not understand..." Before I knew it, I was getting offended. Her totally eastern, novel ideas were that Jesus doesn't care that much about morality. I know that. She said that there is inherent dislocation from God if you are a Western Christian. I dont agree with that. She said that Eastern Christians know what it means to have Christ live inside you, not just read about him. I'm pretty sure I knew that too. I'm not saying these things because I think she is wrong, or because I know I am right. It's because she is making a distinction, its because she is saying one side is practicing this faith right and the other, thus inherently, is wrong.
The other day I was found an aesthetically lovely and intriguing ad for a ministry called
Humble Orthodoxy. So while I was searching through the site, I quickly became repulsed by what I was seeing. It is a direct response to the Emerging Church movement and a softspoken insult to
Brian McLaren's book, ironically named,
A Generous Orthodoxy. The head of the Humble Orthodoxy (who happens to be
Joshua Harris...) quietly, without being too outright says, "God should not be redefined or reinvented to suit our own preferences or culture." Whereas McLaren has written works in such a fashion that Harris is criticizing such as "A New Kind of Christian," "Adventures in Missing the Point," and "Church in Emerging Culture, Five Perspectives." I am not personally criticizing the theologies of either of these men and their ministries, I am criticizing the blatant polarization they have created.
Why does it always have to be us vs. them? Is the east getting it right? Is the progressive getting it right? Is the emergent church getting it right? Is the social justice centered, liberal getting it right? Is the pro-life, traditional values right-winger getting it right? I am ever going to get it right?
In all honestly, and completely fundamentally, this is not about what I believe or what you believe. It is the basic truth of Christ. And the way the Truth of Christ wraps itself around us is completely unique to how God has formed us. We cannot take credit for anything, the theologies, the orthodoxies, the theories. God manifests Himself anywhere He sees fit, in the postmodern movement, in the churches of America, and most importantly in the hearts of all. And if anyone is to look at the world, we are abundantly and painfully aware that there are enough individual groups that warrant our diversity of interest in ministry areas. How dare we claim that we are right, that we have figured out how to live this Christian life?
I want to believe that there is a reason we label ourselves, why we have different movements, different denominations. There must be a good answer. There must be something that is not just logical about it, but that is Christ-like about it. I cannot rest to know this is just human division amoung God's people. I applaud the vision of Humble Orthodoxy, but their execution has been horrible and their means seem to be in direct opposition to their end, and that, friends, is what makes it all the worse.
I'm not here to answer these questions and these problems, but to illuminate them, to make you see that we are all getting it wrong. If we want to live stripped-down, plan and simple, disciples of Christ's lives, do so and then infiltrate the world, infiltrate the non-profits and ministries, infiltrate the churches, AS SUCH and nothing else. Widening the divide between is not needed, wanted, or ever justified.
//What I want from us is empty our minds.
But we fake, we fuss, and fracture the times.
We go blind when we needed to see.
What I want from this
is to learn to let go.//
