My 14 year old has a bad habit of trying to engage me in conversations which he really ought to be having with his peers rather than his parents. Because, really, only a teen wants to spend hours sitting around talking about their favorite bands, watching weird, nonsensical videos online and complaining about their teachers. Although I do appreciate that he insisted in introducing me to The Room. Because some sorts of genius idiot disasters do transcend generational lines.
Anyways, last summer, he was trying to regail me with yet more information about the bizarre genius of Trent Reznor which quickly started sounding like, “whaa-waa-waa-whaa-wa-wa” to me. So I stopped him and said, “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you go and learn everything there is to know about the character of King David and his influence on Jewish thought through the ages and then have a conversation with me about it? Tell me something new that I might care about.”
To which he responded, “see, religion is your thing. I figure that what you’ve taught me makes sense and I believe it. I pray and live by what you’ve taught me. So I don’t have to spend my time worrying about it or trying to work it all out. Which leaves me free to learn about all sorts of other things. Like Stockhausen. Noah and I have this theory that maybe his mother fed him live tadpoles as a child and that’s what turned him into a scary lunatic.”
And I kid you not, something very deep in me said, “this is the future of the church you are looking at.”
Which sounds odd, but stop and think for a moment; what would it be like if an understanding of God, morality and spiritual matters were just a given. If we all pretty much understood and agreed on them and weren’t continually arguing or preaching or fussing over them? Maybe there would be a few of us who were vocationally drawn to studying and thinking about such things who would continue to do so. We could be a resource for people when they needed help or wanted to deepen their understanding. But otherwise, people would be free to spend their energy on other things, secure in the knowledge that they were living in right relationship with God, self, others and creation. Wouldn’t that be something?
Now, the idea may seem far-fetched or even undesirable. Yet this is actually the new covenant which God says is coming:
“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
~ Jeremiah 31:34
This passage is also quoted in Hebrews 8:10-12 and 10:16 which is a long discussion of the forgiveness of sins through the new covenant established in Jesus. Hebrews 8:13 says that the old covenant is “obsolete” and is in the process of “disappearing”. Paul explains that at this time Jesus is “waiting for his enemies to be brought low and put under his feet.”
As always, we need to be wise about enemy language in scripture. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms“. The enemies of Jesus and of believers are not people. They are spiritual forces.Like say the spirit of violence, greed, hatred, condemnation and will to dominate.
So, God has told us that there will come a time when such enemies are brought low and placed under the feet of Jesus. And when that happens, the new covenant will come to fruition. Meaning that once things like violence, greed, hatred, condemnation or a will to dominate are no longer seen as valuable or tolerable or acceptable in light of the call to love, serve, heal, free and elevate each other, the new covenant will take the place of the old, dead one.
And you know what? I think we are seeing the first signs of this happening now. We certainly aren’t there yet, but there are fewer and fewer groups of people who are set aside as acceptable objects of hate. There is a growing awareness that declaring a country an enemy doesn’t turn its citizens into subhumans who we can kill at will. There’s less and less tolerance for treating women as inferior to and under the rule of men. Greed is certainly still rampant, but there are powerful, wealthy men and women who have made it their life’s goal to improve life for others. We’re still a hot mess, but bit by bit, in the hearts of people, we are putting those old enemies under the foot of Christ.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that as this happens, more and more people are walking away from the church. For the most part, they are not walking away, as some religionists imagine, to live lives of debauchery and selfishness. Rather, people are seeking ways to be good without anyone trying to teach them to “know the Lord”. Whether they realize it or label it as such, more and more people are embracing what our faith says at the outset – that their heart is made in the very image of Love. And they are looking to see what Love has written on it.
Now, I don’t mean to imply that we’re just a half step away from some progressive utopia where everyone follows their own heart to their own bliss. In fact, I suspect that humanity’s about to explode and it’s going to be a hell of a storm before we get to calm. But that’s a story for another day. All I am saying is that when I look around, I am seeing the first dawning of new light. Candles being lit to provide light through the storm, most likely.
It seems to be my lot lately to tell you things you won’t hear taught in church. And what I’m saying most certainly isn’t being taught in any church which hasn’t decided to use a nautilus shell in place of some recognizably Christian symbol. But let me ask you something. How do you suppose the church will react when the day comes that God’s law and word is written on each person’s heart and no one will teach their brother to “know the Lord”? Do you really think they’ll be pleased? Do you really think they will be quick to say, “follow what God has put in your heart, not what man (including our pastor) teaches”? That seems very unlikely to me.
It seems much more probable that there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Hangwringing over the death of Christianity. Attempts to condemn and guilt those leaving into coming back under their control. Endless attempts to lure people back, figure out where it all went wrong, staunch the flow of those leaving, etc, etc, etc. As Paul said in Hebrews 8:13, when something becomes obsolete, it begins disappearing. It’s dying. And dying hurts.
Now, am I saying that we are seeing the beginning of the death of the church? Um . . . kind of. But it’s a spiritual death, not destruction. Like all death, it’s not the end. It will eventually give way to new life. What that might look like is what I’ll be discussing later this week.
In the meantime, I know that there are a lot of people who have left the church, although they certainly have not left God. And I know that there are a lot of people who are very concerned about what appears to be decline in the church. But this is really what’s supposed to happen. We’re not going to be teaching each other and telling each other “know the Lord” forever. And we shouldn’t be too alarmed to see it start to happen.
I’ve seen the future of the church in my own living room and it looks like a kid who hasn’t been in a church in 7 years, is secure in his identity as an image bearer, who loves God and seeks his ways, has read his bible and just doesn’t worry too much more about it. It’s what freedom in Christ looks like, it seems to me.
The Upside Down World 
At first I laughed at this “To which he responded, “See, religion is your thing. I figure that what you’ve taught me makes sense and I believe it. I pray and live by what you’ve taught me. So I don’t have to spend my time worrying about it or trying to work it all out. Which leaves me free to learn about all sorts of other things. Like Stockhausen. Noah and I have this theory that maybe his mother fed him live tadpoles as a child and that’s what turned him into a scary lunatic.”
Then, I called myself back to order, it wanna make my cry for the monster we’ve built that we called “church”.
One of resolutions is this “Maybe what we ought to be doing as believers is to disciple people and allow Jesus to build His church as He has promised” but it is rather unfortunate that our response has always been “Hey! Jesus, you disciple people! We’ll build your Church for you”…and we are busy doing this day in and out, hoping to see a better day ahead rather, it’s just another performance-treadmill that leads to nowhere.
Well, I believe that Christ is building his Ekklesia and she will only be known by “how secure she is in her identity as an image bearer, who loves God and seeks his ways, has read her bible and just doesn’t worry too much more about it. It’s what freedom in Christ looks like…She has found her Freedom in not doing stuffs but in A Person, her Lover”
Thanks for sharing this….
Greatly challenged and encouraged.
LikeLike
I really think that most in the church don’t have any idea just how faithless we are and how little trust we have in God. We keep wanting to do everything our way and claiming sanctification for it because it’s done in service to a good cause. We really need to just let God do his work in redeeming people and bringing forth his bride and stick to learning to love.
LikeLike
This is an excellent article, expressing where (I think) Christianity is going. I very much see the trend you’re seeing. In fact I see it in myself. I wish the institutions wouldn’t feel so threatened by this, but after all, many of them are built on the Fear Factor which disappears when security arrives.
LikeLike
Just like you and Holly I am in on this change myself – and as much as it “discomfits” me at times it makes me just as excited about what is to come!!! I appreciate “church” as it has given me a nourishing ground for years (which I haven´t had as a child) but growing up in Christ I´m in the process of putting away childish things and becoming an adult with an ingrown security that my Father is greater and way more merciful, creative and vast than any little brain can begin to explain…. And although I´m getting my second divorce now (which makes me a real loser in common church) I KNOW God knows my story, my heart, my intents … and loves me deeply!!! I´m just reading a great book by Newberg/Waldman “How God changes your brain” (they are unbelievers but studied for years the effect of faith (in any form) on the human brain) and it makes me believe the Bible and the vast wisdom behind it even more ! HE made our brain to be like this!
Thanks for your courage and your great creative-thinking 😉
LikeLike
Holly, I couldn’t agree less with what you’ve just said.
In truth, my journey into Christianity was built on fear. Virtually, from the onset, I was taught a relationship that was based on Fear. Most of my trying not to offend God came as result Fear of me “not wanting to go to Hell not because I love him” and it compounded my view and understanding of what God is like.
You know what it means to feel threaten by the goodness of God, to know that God is good and loving….hmm….. The bible was read (is still being read) with wrong belief-system, and I dared not go against what’s norm then because I didnt even know better than my teachers.
But God be praised, I came out of that religion of Fear and I began to see things in different ways and the Lord gave me that security not base on human’s teaching but on the Faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Now I see….yet with a cloudy glass and tomorrow I shall see Him as He is.
LikeLike
John, I think Holly was criticising churches for relying on the fear factor, not praising fear in religion in any way.
LikeLike
That’s what I was supporting, Rebecca. Maybe there’s that tendency of my words being coined somehow. I was showing how the church instilled fears in me which led to nowhere.
Hope you understand my point.
Cheers
LikeLike
Ah – you said “I couldn’t agree less”, you must have meant “I couldn’t agree more”. I was confused! 😉
LikeLike
Whoops!! You wouldn’t believe I didn’t notice that. That was a blunder! Thanks for pointing my attention to that. 😉 … Mehhhnn..this is fun.
Cheers 🙂
LikeLike
What is your take on this article Rebecca?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christandpopculture/2014/02/donald-miller-and-the-myth-of-isolated-worship/
LikeLike
Betty, I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you. I have read the post you linked to as well as Don Miller’s original post. I think Don did a pretty good job responding to the criticism he got here:
http://storylineblog.com/2014/02/05/why-i-dont-go-to-church-very-often-a-follow-up-blog/
I would just add that I think the church really needs to stop thinking and talking in terms of how people (even believers) can serve the church. Rather I think the church needs to start thinking about how it can serve people. How the church can meet the needs of people – both believers and wider humanity – needs to become its central focus. While it may seem at first glance that this would simply feed into a narcissistic desire to make everything about “me”, I think it would actually be the solution to that very problem. People are wired to be challenged and to serve each other (although that wiring may be buried pretty deep). One of the major issues we have with the church is that it does neither of those things. People often show up at and serve in church because they are supposed to. We may believe and the church may teach that in doing so, we and the world will reap benefits. But the benefits are often too long in coming, too small or too removed from the wider world to justify the time and energy the church asks people to put into it. Meeting the actual needs of people – rather than telling people what their needs are and how they should get them met in church – will allow the church to have a bigger, more obvious and immediate imact. People are going to be far more willing to serve and support something which they can see and experience as actually changing things than they are at this point.
Thanks for asking me to comment on this. I’ve been meaning to write a post on what the church will/could look like. Answering this question has helped me clarify that a lot!
LikeLike
Rebecca, I’ve been reading Evelyn Underhill lately, and I posted this quote on my page. I think it goes along with what you’re saying; learning to love God, learning to love others as God loves them, and us.
She says the spiritual life “means an immense widening of the arc of human sympathy; and this is not possible to do properly unless we have found the centre of the circle first.
The glaring defect of current religion—I mean the vigorous kind, not the kind that is responsible for empty churches—is that it spends so much time in running round the arc and rather takes the centre for granted…
and it is at the centre that the real life of the spirit aims first; thence flowing out to the circumference—
even to the most harsh, dark, difficult and rugged limits—
in unbroken streams of generous love.”
I agree with you that something good is happening. The light is becoming more evident. Underhill came to believe that mysticism and the institutional church need each other. That is real community.
LikeLike