No More Heroes!

Here it is – the blog post for Season 3 Episode 5 –We Don’t Need Another Hero… We Need a Village of Heroes

Here are the nuts and bolts of what Charley and I say:

First, there are similarities between churches and other “nice” community groups when responding to moments of crisis. Hopefully people are:

• ·      Present
• ·      Bring food
• ·      Listen
• ·      Offer hugs and moments of compassion (except for me… no hugs from me)

So it is great to know that people are generally nice and try to help others. Yet there should be something about a church community that is different and sets the church apart. To say the least we profess a faith in God grounded in Christ. That is something you most likely will not find with other community groups. They are just being nice. This means we have:

• ·      An awareness of the presence of God in the suffering
• ·      A language of spirituality
• ·      The freedom to create a space for anger and questions
• We can pray for each other. We can sing hymns. We can connect at a deeper level then other community groups can offer.

Now many people and churches have a great ability to screw up and say/do the wrong thing. Here are some things to watch out for:

• ·      Don’t try to fix things. You probably can’t and may make things worse
• ·      Don’t make the crisis about you, we need an egotistic narcissist even less than we need another hero
• ·      Don’t avoid talking about God… even if it makes you uncomfortable
• ·      Try offering scripture, but not in a controlling, demeaning, jerk-like way. When in doubt, turn to the Psalms
• ·      Just because the pastor visited doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Usually crisis is more than a one day thing and multiple visits from folks can go a long way.
• ·      Don’t be afraid of the loss – covering it up does not help the individual

That is about it. Church communities have something to offer that others don’t – our faith. So close to Easter it should be obvious; the resurrection speaks to crisis and offers hope in crisis. If you own the resurrection then live it and offer it to people in crisis.

But…. No hugs. At least no hugs from me.

Railage:

Okay! Need I say more? Jonathan also railed against Integration Philosophy as he heard about it on the podcast Homebrewed Christianity. It is soft, weak, and not very Christian.

Charley continued with such a railage and took issue with the charismatic emergent folks. People with energy about an idea who give others the idea that there is energy around their idea when in actuality it is only the individual who has the energy. Did you follow that? In other words, just because some folks (Brian McClaren, Peter Rollins, etc.) wave their finger in the air and say, “this is the new thing we have to embrace” does not mean it actually is the new thing we have to embrace.

A Liturgical Exegesis

Did you survive Holy Week? If you didn’t here is what was supposed to happen: Palm Sunday – the story of the entry into Jerusalem

Maundy Thursday – the story of the Last Supper

Good Friday – the suffering and crucifixation of Christ ending at the tomb

Easter – look it up

Charley and I both considered ending Palm Sunday on a serious/somber note as if to set up the passion (suffering) of Christ. Charley even inflicted Mel Gibson’s movie on his people. I am not so cruel.

Watcha Into?

Despite Charley’s snarky snorts and snobbish down the nose views at South by Southwest (SXSW) Jonathan is excited about the festival. He wishes he could go, but he has a family and job to consider. Instead, Jonathan is listening to the Austin 100 mix found on NPR Music. 100 free songs until April 4^th! How can you ask for anything more?

Charley is watching Battlestar Galactica! It is a great, great, great series that takes long and philosophical looks at what it means to be human, what it mean to have faith, and the nature of walking/talking toasters. Welcome Charley, to a deeper and more profound level of nerd culture. There is no escape!

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook and to offer a comment/rating on itunes! Take a break now that you have made it through Lent. If your boss asks why you aren’t working, stand up, look him or her in the eyes, and say, “Christ suffered so I don’t have to.” Then sit down and enter into deep prayer until your boss leaves.