Reid blessed me again today. More about that in a bit-
The other day I was reading something that led to something else, etc, and wound up, by way of John Bradley and Jason Clark reading a letter by Brian McLaren, and an interview with him as well. Brian is someone who has put a lot of thought into what's being called by some, the Emergent Church, and has the respect of others who have done the same.
Now, I don't know anything about emerging or emergent or whatever. In fact, I had never heard of any of it until I started this blog , and started reading others that seem to have similar interests. As best I understand, the intent of the Emergent church is to bring the Gospel to a post-modern culture; post-modern being a reference to the moral stance of 21st century culture. I think.
I was, uh, bothered, by some of what I read in both the letter and the interview. It seemed to me there was a lot of negative criticism toward the traditional, modern, & postmodern versions of the church.
However, what bothered me most in both articles, was that McLaren asked lots of questions without offering any answers. In fact, in the interview, he seemed to back way off what he said in the letter, without offering any solid answers to the questions presented to him. Kind of like he was above being questioned and you had to accept what he said because he said it.
Now, I can't claim to be very familiar with McLaren. And I don't like feeling this way about a brother in Christ. So I knew I needed to either get more input, or let it go entirely. My life is incredibly busy these days, so I figured that although I was curious, I had to let it go- felt that that was what God would have me do. And I felt peace about that.
Enter Reid, stage right. Ha. He sent me to one of my most trusted resources- Christianity Today Online. A very Traditional, Evangelical bulwark. To an article by...drum roll please...Brian McLaren! There goes God, messing with my box again.
Well, the article at CT helped a lot. Answered some questions and helped me have a better perspective of McLaren. I think we have some very similar views, but we use different words. I did, and still do, consider myself very much 'traditional' church, but I agree with much of what McLaren says in the CT article. And as I've had time to think about the whole thing, it seems to me that in spite of differences in terminology- language- we still have the same goal: to live the Gospel as God leads us.
I know God gives a variety of gifts. But there are also varieties of expressions of those gifts- each person has hands and feet, but I'll bet my hands and feet are distinct from yours. All of us are equipped to do the work God has for us, whether the style is ancient, traditional, post-modern, or futuristic. And we are all part of the Body of Christ. Maybe that's the point.
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