the wonderous, dangerous, messy, uncontrollable, subversive, holy and painful way of Jesus.
At the heart of eikon is the desire to create new culture, or better said, to join God in creating a new culture in the world.
There are those who resist the idea, or any manifestation of a new culture as a threat to all that they hold dear. These folks reject any line of thinking that does not fit their more traditionalist view of how the world works. Black and white, in and out, their way or the highway. These folks are interesting in maintaining culture. In their mind, everything is at stake and the world will literally collapse if change happens. Never underestimate the ferocity of a traditionalist in the face of change. There is a difference between embracing your history and refusing to embrace the future.
Others are interested in sucking the marrow from culture. They live to consume whatever the culture hands them, without a second thought. New technology, new services, new gimmicks, new, new new new, what the culture is selling, these moderns are buying. interested in consuming culture. We are all in this to some extent. In the church, the next best church wins. The next shiny flashy hip, cool church grows the fastest and is declared the success. There's nothing wrong with technology or new things. It's only a problem when it's done without a critical mind about it's implications upon oneself, and the world.
My hope is that eikon will be a community interested in creating culture. Rejecting polarized views on religion and politics, but embracing truth and the kingdom within both sides of the spectrum. Not in some kind of elitest way as one who is more informed, whether it be the academic thinker, or the bohemian evironmentalist, but in attempts at humility and love. That the least of these would be loved. That neighbors would be known, that the hurting would receive compassion and that the broken would be made whole in Christ.
This means that the traditional blueprint for what it means to be church in the traditionalist or modern sense, or be christian for that matter, must be consistantly undermined by a stark reality of the the reality of the kingdom come.
This is not a consumable version of church. It pushes aside complacency and forces participation. It rejects comfort and often imposes the opposite.
It is however the wonderous, dangerous, messy, uncontrollable, subversive, holy and painful way of Jesus. To create a culture is to take up your cross and their nothing status quo, or consumable about the cross.
There are those who resist the idea, or any manifestation of a new culture as a threat to all that they hold dear. These folks reject any line of thinking that does not fit their more traditionalist view of how the world works. Black and white, in and out, their way or the highway. These folks are interesting in maintaining culture. In their mind, everything is at stake and the world will literally collapse if change happens. Never underestimate the ferocity of a traditionalist in the face of change. There is a difference between embracing your history and refusing to embrace the future.
Others are interested in sucking the marrow from culture. They live to consume whatever the culture hands them, without a second thought. New technology, new services, new gimmicks, new, new new new, what the culture is selling, these moderns are buying. interested in consuming culture. We are all in this to some extent. In the church, the next best church wins. The next shiny flashy hip, cool church grows the fastest and is declared the success. There's nothing wrong with technology or new things. It's only a problem when it's done without a critical mind about it's implications upon oneself, and the world.
My hope is that eikon will be a community interested in creating culture. Rejecting polarized views on religion and politics, but embracing truth and the kingdom within both sides of the spectrum. Not in some kind of elitest way as one who is more informed, whether it be the academic thinker, or the bohemian evironmentalist, but in attempts at humility and love. That the least of these would be loved. That neighbors would be known, that the hurting would receive compassion and that the broken would be made whole in Christ.
This means that the traditional blueprint for what it means to be church in the traditionalist or modern sense, or be christian for that matter, must be consistantly undermined by a stark reality of the the reality of the kingdom come.
This is not a consumable version of church. It pushes aside complacency and forces participation. It rejects comfort and often imposes the opposite.
It is however the wonderous, dangerous, messy, uncontrollable, subversive, holy and painful way of Jesus. To create a culture is to take up your cross and their nothing status quo, or consumable about the cross.
posted by mark at
10:01 AM
4 Comments:
...embracing truth...
Curious! How do you plan on embracing truth when you say that you cannot know it?
:)
Rejecting polarized views on religion and politics, but embracing truth and the kingdom...
Best of luck. I think that in the end, you will find that it is not possible to embrace truth (assuming that you can know it) and the kingdom (assuming that you can know the way in) without inevitably polarizing people more than anything else known to mankind. And then, once you have embraced knowable truth, some wag will come along and suggest that what you're really interested in is maintaining culture.
I have a strong confidence that this is so. It's happened to me often enough...
Of course, since (unless you've changed your mind), you reject the concept of knowable truth--at least for men--all that won't be a problem for you. :)
Dan, you are getting pretty predictable. every time i mention truth you come at me with the same ol song and dance.
thanks for illustrating my point though.
One of the interesting things about the Kingdom is it's "already here/not yet come" way of being.
We do understand that we are to always work to continue to bring the Kingdom into the world that Christ has already started for us.
I like what I see in your community, seeking after the things of God, cultural or not.
...you are getting pretty predictable.
Back atcha, of course. :) Personally, I think you've been rewriting the same post for most of the last two years--which might partially account for the similarity of my comments. :)
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