Note: I've decided to forgego my usual essay-post in order to catch up on some church related links.
1. I’ve always been a bit skeptical of both megachurches and the seeker-sensitive movement. But after living in the Chicago area for over a year, I finally decided it was time to take a trip out to the epitome of seeker-sensitive megachurches: Willow Creek.
(a) Paradoxically, WC is both gargantuan and intimate. Although the architecture shares more in common with a small college campus than with the great cathedrals, the entire church is remarkably designed. The main auditorium, in particular, is designed to maximize the acoustic effect of the worship service. (b) WC is definitely not for everyone. If you find suburban evangelical culture distasteful, you’ll abhor WC. (c) Over the years I’ve visited literally hundreds of churches. Out of those, I can think of only a handful where I have heard the Gospel preached as clearly as I did at WC. Critics who denigrate WC because it appears to be too big, too loud, and too obnoxious (in other words, the embodiment of American evangelicalism) could probably learn a valuable lesson about how to do church.
2. Andy Jackson has coined the neologism emergentising to describe “the present fad to label, find, insert, and describe everything as ‘Emergent.’” The only problem is that like the term “postmodern” now one can agree what “emergent” means. As Rusty Lopez notes in the comment threat at SmarterChrisitan: “It seems that the only definitive statement one can truly nail onto the emergent church is that they refuse to be nailed down. …When one cannot give a clear answer to the question: “What is the emergent church?”, then one is not capable of discernment.”
3. Rob Vischer has an interesting take on Presidential Power and Original Sin:
As a believing Christian, President Bush presumably would not dispute the need to account for the fallen nature of office-holders in our government structure. But he too frequently seems to be paying scant homage to that need for accountability in carrying out the war on terror. Whether the accusation pertains to the torture of suspected terrorists, the factual premises of the Iraq invasion, or the prospect of the government listening in on Americans’ phone calls, his response often seems to boil down to derivations of two themes: “Trust me” or “I need this power to keep us safe.”
4. Aaron at Two or Three.net offers “10 Suggestions” for Christian bloggers. Everyone of them is spot on, particularly this one:
9. Worry more about living the 10 commandments, instead of displaying them. Quick, name all 10 Commandments and give their location in the Bible. If you are like most Christians, you have a hard time passing that simple test. Yet, for people with such ignorance about a topic, we have managed to display some passionate outrage over their removal from public places. In my opinion the displays do not violate the Constitution, but living our lives contrary to Jesus' spirit of the laws is a violation of Christianity.
5. In a better world, the names Marx and Freud would be all but unknown while Kuyper and Dooyeweerd would be household names. Admittedly, the writings of the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd can be tough to slog through but neocalvinist blogger Gregory Baus is one of the best popularizers of the philosopher’s thought. Check out his post on “Societal Sphere Sovereignty” for an example.
03.14.06.
