Hacking Christianity

The Lost Symbol, forthcoming

It's Friday and I just finished Dan Brown's recent book The Lost Symbol that came out on Tuesday.

I have to say I enjoyed the merriment and semi-plausible story that is Brown's forte, and no, my faith is not shattered nor have I become gnostic.

However, I have been writing. I've got 2-3 blog posts already written and lined up for Monday. So your weekend reading is to finish the book so we can talk. It will have spoilers. That's how we can talk.

So read up this weekend, and we'll see if we can have reasonable conversation on Monday. Enjoy!

Drive-Thru Church [video]

Tongue in cheek but pretty funny! It focuses too much on individual wants and doesn't address churches that refuse to accommodate in reasonable ways a changing culture around them. But still funny.

Clown Communion (Coulrophobia Alert)

For those of you that know my father's profession...this video is really funny.

WARNING: Those of you with coulrophobia (yes, I know the term by heart and can spell it) may want to pass to keep the nightmares away during service.

The end of the video's spouting of scripture betrays the video poster's beliefs, that Communion is too holy and dignified to be done with clowns. I've also witnessed this tension as parishioners complain when the tempo of the music in the receiving line is too upbeat, causing people to sway and sing and...well...celebrate!

To me, this is a humor.hack, one that uses humor (or humorous characters) to tell a story and bring new perspective to a situation.

What do you think?

Can Communion be given this irreverent (and yet, solemn) treatment and presentation?
Or is communion a dignifiedand ancient ritual that deserves to be set-apart?

Discuss.

No Children in Church [bad.hack]

Because nothing says "radical hospitality" like a "no children in church" sign. Sheesh!

From the article, the two United Methodists churches explicitly welcome children in worship, criers and all. Represent!

(h/t @gavoweb)

A People's History of Christianity [review]

I recently finished Diane Butler Bass's A People's History of Christianity. Much like BU Professor Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Bass focuses on the undercurrents of tradition alongside the established story that "everyone knows" about Christianity.

In doing so, she makes two distinctions from the outset. First, there are at least two different stories of Christianity to be told.

The first is Big-C Christianity, full of all the triumphilism and conquest and Jesus that we know from history and Sunday School.
The second is Great-C Christianity, for "Great Commandment", that traces the stories of people who followed the Greatest Commandment in various ways without subscribing to Christendom.

Bass claims neither is better; she articulates that Triumphilist Christendom understands devotional life better and Great Commandment Christianity understands justice and ethics better. Both are necessary for the Christian life, and thus it is good that both are studied and learned from.

However, Bass is writing a Progressive Christian history, one that understands Tradition not as ways and philosophies that dominate one another, but rather tradition as "making connections though time." She traces the times and instances, the backstories, the little powerful figures such as Teresa of Avila, the soft side of Augustine, and Abelard's lover's tragedy that rarely gets mentioned.

In particular, the latter example of Abelard drew back the curtain a bit more on my favorite Atonement theorist. The extended biography of his secret love, their hidden wedding, and the resulting castration of Abelard by his lover's family was shocking and Bass's connection of his experience of 'rough justice' and his rejection of violent atonement theories was very interesting. There are many such segments that trace a little-known side of a figure and use it to point towards the subversive history of Great Commandment Christianity.

Here's a video interview that explains it a bit more: The Ooze TV (or on Youtube)

Personally, while I enjoyed the book, I know why. It seemed more to me like a "Pastor's History of Christianity" with little nuggets of information that are woven together with lessons...much like a sermon. It's goal is to persuade that since the beginning there's been an undercurrent of Progressive Christianity that has only recently begun to rear it head. Since I do identify as Progressive...and I'm a pastor...then obviously it worked for me. But that's not to say it will be acceptable to everyone.

All in all, I got a lot out of the book, but if you regularly pick apart your pastor's sermons for factual accuracy and relevant historical lessons...you may want to pass on A People's History.

United Methodism in 1,2,3,4,5 (ah ah ah)

Bishop Coyner from Indiana wrote the following piece (PDF) which is unusually succinct way to describe Methodism. Thought I would pass it on!

It's his writing, but loooong quotes look weird at HX so here it is full-text.

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“Being a United Methodist is as Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5” – July 6, 2009

Sometimes I think we make it too hard to understand. We throw around words like “connectional” and “itinerancy” and a hodgepodge of alphabetical terms (like UMC, UMW, GBGM, GBOD, BOOM, etc). Sometimes we make it hard for our own United Methodist people to describe how we United Methodists are followers of Jesus.

So here it is, in simple 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ways to describe how we United Methodists live our Christian faith:

1. We have ONE mission statement: “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” We have all agreed on this statement, it is Biblical, it is in our Book of Discipline, and it is the mission statement of our new Indiana Conference.

2. We believe in TWO forms of holiness: personal holiness and social holiness. That is why we United Methodists work to bring individuals to a Christian way of life, but we also work to change our society.

3. We try to live by the THREE Simple Rules: do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. John Wesley gave us those rules, all clergy agree to them when they are ordained, and all United Methodist people are called to follow them.

4. We believe that truth is found by the FOUR sides of the Wesley Quadrilateral: Scripture is primary, and it is interpreted by Tradition (what the church has taught), Reason, and Experience. We are a Biblical people, but we also see the importance of learning from the Christian teachings of the past, using our minds to think through our faith, and bringing our own experience of God into our understanding.

5. We know that our congregations flourish when we engage in the FIVE Practices of:

Radical Hospitality
Passionate Worship
Intentional Faith Development
Risk-Taking Mission and Service
Extravagant Generosity

There it is. Five steps to being faithful United Methodist followers of Christ. Those FIVE describe what is unique about being followers of Jesus in the Wesleyan Way . Once a person has committed to follow Jesus, these Five Steps are the hallmarks of The United Methodist Church .

Maybe those of us who lead the UMC, both laity and clergy, would do well to focus on those Five steps and to use that common language. I plan to do so, and I invite you to join me.

from Bishop Michael J. Coyner
Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church