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13
Jun
Change the Right Thing (Part 3)
by Bob Hamp | Blog Posts | 5 Comments »It is our own misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission and message that has us continually needing to release the next update of “church”. Cultural relevance, whether it is an adjustment to the Reformation or to Post-Modernism should never be the target. If cultural relevance must be the target then let’s define the culture rightly. To what culture should we be conforming? The edgy new culture that is arriving on the scene? The traditional culture which many find difficult to release? Here is how Jesus would answer this question.
“When you pray, pray like this; Our Father (Source, Origin) in Heaven (Whose culture is the Spiritual realm) hallowed be Your Name (You belong at the center of all things). Your Kingdom come (may the culture of the Heavenly Realm, the Presence of your Nature, be the thing that we conform to) your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven (please be the shaping and transforming power that restores to earth and all its’ inhabitants, the original design of creation).
Because the Knowledge of Good and Evil has shaped our understanding and perceptual pathways we associate God with the Traditions from which we are trying to extricate ourselves, instead of associating Him with the Life-Giving encounters the whole world is starved for.
God heartily invites us to spend our day moving in His life-soaked presence. We fear He wants us to give up fun stuff. God urges us to let go of the things which choke our soul. We fear He wants to control us. God offers us a connection to the very Force that brought all things into existence. We fear He wants us to be slaves.
Listen again this week to the teachings of Jesus. Though He occasionally instructed us about navigating the Earth-realm; overwhelmingly, the bulk of His teaching had much more to do with the Nature and Availability of the Heavenly Realm. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like...” is not a statement which introduces institutional principles. It is the beginning of a description of a place that He has been and we have not. It is the description of a place that is available to us in our day to day lives.
Let’s not change what the church does again. Let’s change instead, where we operate from.
Bob, is it either/or? Is it both/and?
Admittedly, I feel the church in America has missed the mark in many areas. I’m biased, of course, because I work with churches as my profession. Still, I don’t think it’s bad to leverage new methodologies that are specific to our culture. In that sense, YES, let’s continually change what the local church (little “C”) does.
More important is to change what the Church (big “C”) does. That’s your point, I think, and I agree.
Anthony Coppedge,
Website: anthonycoppedge.com/problogAwesome stuff, Bob!
Thanks for posting this and all your great insights! This is becoming a very helpful collection of posts! You rock!
Scott Pickering,
Website:Anthony, I always love the dialogue, you’re right we just need to hang out. I know I always plant myself on the extreme side, but I am convinced that a truly heavenly orientation is culturally relevant in any time or nation because the heavens are the source of our humanity. My perspective (and I think yours too) is that we are frustratingly likely to let the method become the message, and diverge from the ONE thing that makes everything else functional. Jesus was culturally relevant to people of many nations and socioeconomic backgrounds, because of who He was. His strategy flowed out of who He was. At the same time He was oppositional to any cultural expression which inherently diverged from the message. Heaven is among men. WE must change to access this realm. To appeal to the soul in order to reach the spirit may actually detract from the message. Dang, I didn’t just reply, I just wrote another post!! Love you AC
Bob
Bob Hamp,
Website: bobhamp.comThanks Scott, I finally found a place to write my thoughts, I am glad other people like them as well. I appreciate your comments a great deal…rocking is fun, and fun is a fruit of the Spirit.
Bob Hamp,
Website: bobhamp.com[...] From BobHamp.com [...]
You’ve heard it said… (part 2) | My Journey with God,
Website: myjourneywithgod.com/youve-heard-it-said-part-2