The Air We Breathe, The Theology We Teach
06
December
2
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Culture & Theology

Culture is something always present and always changing, it is something we create, yet it daily shapes us. People who are made in the image of God interact with the world that God made and culture is what results. So where there are people there is culture and where there are fallen people there is fallen culture. Culture is like the air we breathe, we take it in and we send it out, only sending it out a little different that we received it.

Our culture, then, is a collection of ideals and beliefs, values and assumptions that make up a kind of master plan for living and interpreting the life which we collectively and individually live. We take in culture from past generations, live in it, adapt it and adapt to it, and then pass it on to generations to follow.

It is only natural that this “air we breathe” is going to affect our understanding of, belief in, and practice of theology. This is why in Franke’s definition of theology it is stated that theology is a “contextual discipline”. Not only do we receive God’s inspiration in our cultural context, but we also realize that is was given in a different ancient context. This is the hard work of the task of theology, to provide “critical and constructive reflection” so that we and others can “live as the people of God” in our immediate and global culture.

I do not think that we are ever able to completely separate our thinking or theology from the culture in which we were raised. At the same time I believe that there are some understandings of truth that can be universal to all people. However, we must be very careful to not arrogantly assume that we have the final understanding of those universal truths.

I came across an example of how the gospel so intertwined with rational thought through a modern dependency on technology and science has left many disillusioned in its aftermath. In the book titled God’s Breath: Sacred Scriptures of the World, the authors seek to return people to spiritual thinking instead of religion based on rationality. They observe, “As we arrive at the end of a century dedicated to the external world – when technology and science has made an effort to explain everything and promises to solve our problems – the gaps and weaknesses of this wholly secular endeavor are beginning to show. People are turning with new passion to what they call “spirituality.” (emphasis mine) To make it clear, I reject the philosophy of what this book offers as the answer to the current condition of humanity:

God's Breath“For millennia seekers of truth have found God in a handful of sacred texts. Now God’s Breath gathers together selections from seven of the world’s major wisdom traditions. The title comes from a Zen saying, “To understand God is to listen. Listen to Jesus and Muhammad and Buddha, but don’t get caught up in the names. Listen beyond them; listen to God’s breath.” (from back cover)

 

However, I believe they have rightly identified the condition of our culture and are seeking to answer it from a faith voice rather than a humanistic path. I do think that we can show the Bible of the Old and New Testament as a superior document to all the others and preserve it as the document that is truly God breathed. I am not sure that this is the question that many in the emerging culture are asking though.

So here is the critical and constructive task ahead of the church. How do we answer the truth questions which are being asked in our time through the lens of post-modernity instead of the view of modernity?

I must state again that this is no easy task, because theology surrounds us daily; inside and outside of the church, theologies are spoken and lived out and are both accurate and inaccurate. Phyllis Tickle writes in God-Talk in America that “more theology is conveyed in, and probably retained from one hour of popular television, than from all the sermons that are also delivered on any given weekend in America’s synagogues, churches, and mosques.”

We need to make theology something more common in the market places, and train people how to think through a theological process or grid. I am suggesting that the task of learning and doing theology is like developing a filter through which we breathe in the air around us. We don’t live in a vacuum (although many in the church try to live in their own bubble) and we have to come to terms with the fact that our culture affects ALL areas of our life. It shapes our pace of life, our agenda for life, our priorities, our relationships, and our spirituality. This air filter that I am suggesting is a world-view that is grounded in the biblical texts, historical traditions of the church, ever adjusting to the pollutants in the spiritual air around, but allowing one to breathe and live and make a difference in their culture. Bill Romanowski says that “a worldview describes the way the world is, while also providing a model for the way the world ought to be.”(Eyes Wide Open)

I see that there are three options on how to deal with the air around us:

1. Stop breathing, otherwise known as attempting an isolation mentality. This leads to a death of suffocation andmask-gas.jpg a loss of impact on those around you.

2. Breathe deep, poison and all. This also leads to a death, not from suffocation, but from deadly toxins which take your life resulting in a loss of impact on those around you.

3. Breathe deep through a filter. This is called redemptive interaction. To look into my culture, interact with it, and redeem our cultures commonality through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe this is what Jesus was speaking about when he taught us to be salt and light to the world.

Category: biblical studies, ministry, seminary, spiritual life, Theology  2 Comments
Mandy’s Monday…(finally) on Thursday!
29
November
1
written by: | One Comment

How He answers (part 2) (see here for part 1)

Well I probably should not have indicated a day that the audio lesson would be up.  You know how life goes, you can not always do what you think you can.  So it is Thursday and not Tuesday :)

I enjoyed teaching and hope it is an encouragement to those who listen.

To download, click here, to listen streaming just click on the play button below.

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In the winter and spring Study & Share will be going through Colossians and I will be teaching a few times.  I look forward to learning personally from this book as I dive in :)

Category: Mandy, Mandy's Mondays, messages, prayer  One Comment
Mandy’s Mondays Will Be On Tuesday
26
November
2
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Tomorrow I will be teaching my final lesson on prayer at Study & Share. I hope to be able to put up the audio file tomorrow evening. So check back tomorrow if you would like to listen.

The topic of the lesson is: How He Answers

Category: Mandy, Mandy's Mondays, messages, prayer  2 Comments
Mandy’s Mondays – A Book List for JCrew
19
November
0
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On Saturday I had the priviledge to spend the morning with a group of young ladies, Franklin & Marshall students, at their JCrew retreat. JCrew is a Christian club that began seven years ago on the F&M campus. This group strives to provide an opportunity for small group Bible Studies, a place where the ladies can grow deeper in their relationships with friends, sisters in Christ and the Lord. I enjoyed being with them and hearing about their current studies and life dreams, wishing I could have spent longer with them. I am sure there were many amazing stories of God’s work in each of the ladies lives all over the room!!

I shared with the ladies the encouragement and challenge I find in Psalm 63. David talks about his soul three times in this Psalm and describes it in this way: “My soul thirsts for God,” “My soul is satisfied in God,” and “My soul clings to God.” 1. Thirst 2. Satisfaction and 3. Cling. Our souls are made with a thirst for God, we do not have to work one up!! It is just there, by God’s design!! Our souls will only find true satisfaction in God, nothing else satisfies!! And when your soul knows that satisfaction is in God alone, then your soul will want to cling to God!!

I told the ladies I would put up on my blog a list of books that I have read over the last several years that have encouraged my soul in finding satisfaction in God and in clinging to Him. So ladies here it is:

dillow.jpgCalm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow
I first did not think this book was for me, I would not consider myself an anxious person. But I started reading it anyway, because I respect Linda Dillow and have been challenged by other books she has written. Then as I read the book I saw how very needed it was for my life and walk! It is a good one!!

miller.jpgBlue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
This is an enjoyable and thought provoking read!! I laughed out loud several times and sat pondering my Christian faith and actions after several chapters. You will enjoy it, and it will make ya think!

feinberg.jpgThe Organic God by Margaret Feinberg
I recently wrote another blog on this book and author, click here to read that :)

eldredge.jpgThe Epic by John Eldredge
I love to look at the entire story of the Bible instead of just its parts. (That is something I could go on and on about!! – but some other time!) This book does a great job of opening our eyes to God’s overall work and story; His epic!  (you can listen to it live on the author’s web site!)

eastman.jpgThe Hour That Changes The World by Dick Eastman
In this book you will learn and be challenged to pray an hour a day that will touch not just your life but the world! It breaks the 60 minutes into 12 five minute sections with a chapter on each. I was really challenged in my prayer life and grew in how to pray for not just myself but the needs of the world as well.

The last one is out of print, but worth trying to find in my opinion!!

mcintosh.jpgGod Up Close by Doug McIntosh
This is a book on how to meditate on God’s word. It includes tools for how to study the Bible, but moves beyond studying to meditating. I found it refreshing and it literally changed the way I spend my personal time with God. After many years of being a “got to read two chapters (or so ) of the Bible a day” and then all is good, kinda girl. This book challenged me to be more concerned with how I was meditating on God’s Word and not so much how much did I read. After reading this book is when I decided to spend a year in Psalm 63 taking it one verse a month. It was a great encouragement.

Ladies, I hope this is an encouragement to you and that the Lord will help you to thirst for Him like no other, to find your satisfaction in Him alone and to cling to the almighty – because He is so much more than worthy.

Thanks for letting me join you!!

Category: Mandy's Mondays  Leave a Comment
Shifts in Student Ministry (and beyond)
14
November
1
written by: | One Comment

I just read a great article from Willow Creek Association about 5 shifts that need to take place in Student Ministry because of the greatly different culture that students are growing up in from when youth ministry began to be common. Like the term or not, I believe that these changes are necessary because of the postmodern ethos that surrounds us. Postmodernity is not simply a cool trendy term to throw around in philosophy or theology circles, it is transitioning to be the prevailing world view to and in which we must minister.

So Willow Creek is using the term “Youth Ministry 2.0″ signifying that the program needs an update. Here are their 5 areas in brief:

From PASSIVE to INTERACTIVE

The quintessence of Youth Ministry 2.0 is user-generated content. Thanks to YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Wikipedia, students are no longer content to just consume … they now want to participate. We have moved from simply presenting the “answers” to students, to allowing them to co-create the content. We recently featured three short films in our youth service that were written, edited and produced by students. We also launched a brand new Web site to be the central information source of our community. Students can interact and create content with polls,blogs, photos, and videos…

From RESOLVED to UNRESOLVED

We recently taught a four-week series called “Hot Topics.” We covered homosexuality, war, MySpace and drugs and alcohol. Instead of offering simple, trite answers to these weighty subjects, we created environments to wrestle with these issues together. With leaders helping to guide them, students were encouraged to search the Scriptures to learn what the Bible says about these topics.

From IMITATION to IMAGINATION

We have been encouraging our students to imagine new ways of expressing their faith. Students have been living out their faith on their school campuses in extraordinary ways. Recently a group of students decided to raise awareness and money for children in Uganda. They held a huge event at their school and promoted it by wearing white ripped T-shirts with black writing across them. They had hundreds of students show up to this event. It was all planned, organized, and implemented by students.

From INFORMATIONAL to EXPERIENTIAL

We continue to try and think of new ways to engage the senses. We want to include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. We recently cooked a steak on stage to teach about the aroma of Christ. We gave out 3-D glasses and taught about the power of vision coming to life. Because the overwhelming majority of teenagers now own a cell phone, we use mass text messaging as a primary means of communication for our ministry.

From CONFESSION to COMPASSION

We have discovered that students are no longer satisfied with just confessing what they believe — they want to live it out. With James 1:27 as our inspiration (Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you). Our student ministry has now partnered with a high school in Zambia, Africa, to serve HIV/AIDS orphans and has established a partnership with a local transitional housing ministry for homeless single moms.

It seems that in the DRINK AND FLOW ministry at Calvary Church we have made some of these shifts, but I see areas of growth still needed. Leave a comment on how you think we can successfully make these shifts to call more worshipers to know God through Jesus Christ and make an impact in this world!

Big thanks to Steve Kilgore for a heads up on the article!

Category: emergent, ministry, Student Ministry  One Comment
Mandy’s Mondays – Meeting Margaret
12
November
2
written by: | 2 Comments

organic_god.jpgLast May Brian got to go to a conference in Washington DC called Lead Now. Now in all honesty I was rather jealous of the fact that he was going and I was staying home, so I asked him to get me a book while he was there. He came home with Margaret Feinberg’s The Organic God and I read it :) I enjoyed the book and found it encouraging. Margaret’s approach is to describe the attributes of God that we often lose sight of with all the other stuff of life and Christianity. Each chapter of the book looks at a different characteristic of God such as his generosity, his wisdom and his mysterious ways. The chapter I enjoyed the most was chapter nine on God’s abundant kindness. I guess I do not sit and ponder His simple and yet magnificent kindness enough! It is an attribute I long to have in my life!

Last night I had the privilege of meeting Margaret and hearing her speak at our church. She shared with us her passion for reaching people in their 20s and helped us to peel back the layers in their lives to understand them better. One thing that really stuck out to me was the need to be careful when asking them questions about life; such as “are you dating anyone, what are you doing in life, where are you headed…” Many of them are trying to figure life out and being asked about it can bring stress. They need people to befriend them, love them, walk along with them in life and be good listeners.

The night made me think of many students we have worked with who are now 20 somethings. I love getting to see them when they return home for the holidays. I love to hear what they have learned about at school and are being stretched with. I love finding old friends from past church ministries on facebook!! Just this week I was found by a girl who we knew in Columbia, SC (that would be over ten years ago) on facebook and it was fun to look through her pictures! People are amazing and God’s work in their lives is even more amazing!!

So if you are one of those students who is coming home to Lancaster for Thanksgiving you better give me a call and I will take you out for a cup of coffee, just so I can hear how life is. I won’t ask you who you are dating. I won’t ask if you have figured out your entire life I will just ask “how are you?” and listen :) And if you are one of those students from Texas or South Carolina and I don’t have the opportunity to sit down with you then feel free to send me an email, leave a comment on the blog or write on my wall – I would love to hear how you are as well!!

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Category: Mandy's Mondays  2 Comments
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