Author: Jon

And then he died.

Nearly two thousand years ago, the Teacher taught in a crowded, downtrodden section of the Roman empire at the juncture of three continents. He taught a message that was gripping, revolutionary, liberating, and . . . unacceptable. It was that the Kingdom of Heaven, where God is in control of everything, was a matter of living selflessly, of considering others before oneself, of loving selflessly, and knowing God as the Father and Source of everyone. He called it “the Good News,” and urged everyone to turn from their present ways and trust the Good News, which he saw it as the purpose of his life (Lk 4:43).

His message was never well-received. According to one source, his first public lesson was such a hit that his hearers tried to throw him off a cliff when he implied that all peoples are equal (Lk 4:29). After that, he began teaching more carefully, performing miracles of healing to show the love of God to all, and using parables to teach the truths of the Kingdom to “those with ears to hear.” Parables put off most of his hearers (Mt 13:13), but he hoped some would listen with their hearts, and let the lessons penetrate their souls.

He openly disputed the religious teachers of his time for hiding God behind the screens of legalism, prejudice, and indifference. He concentrated his direct teaching only to a handful of friends he chose, but after more than two years of living with him, they were still not “getting it,” and were still embroiled in the prejudices of the time.

People constantly tested him. What about the Romans? The Samaritans? Adulterers? Possessed maniacs? You can’t mean to love them! But he did, and he showed it by doing it.

He spent hours alone in prayer in the hills. He taught that constant connection to the Father was essential, and that he himself could do nothing without Him (Jn 5:19.) But his friends still didn’t get it. At some point, he determined to go to Jerusalem (Lk 9:51), knowing that his greatest lesson would cost him his life. It was not an easy choice to make. “There is a baptism I still must receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!” (Lk 12:58)

That distress was not fear of death, but the frustration of trying to teach people who were unable to hear what he had to say, and time was running out. He emphasized the point “The Kingdom of God does not come visibly, and there is no one to say, ‘look here! Look there!’ For the kingdom of God is within you.” (Lk 17:20-21) In spite of this, even his disciples still hoped that he would become the divinely-anointed king of Israel, and drive the hated occupiers out of the country.

In Jerusalem, he was hailed as a hero, and then immediately went on to attack religion directly. He continued preaching and warned that the destruction of Jerusalem would take place within a generation, but that his followers should “look up,” and see him, even in the clouds. (Lk 21:20-33)

He shared a final, sacred meal with his friends, and used the Passover Seder to urge them to remember him. The final lesson was coming, and he knew it must not fail. Then the Lesson began. He was betrayed, arrested, “tried,” sentenced, mocked, beaten, scourged, And while being tortured to death, he forgave. . .

Since I joined the Catholic Church ten years ago, I haven’t kept up much with the happenings in the Protestant world. But several weeks ago, I noticed that my friends Ron » and Bob » had several identical links on their blogs, to places like theOOZE », Mars Hill », and Solomon’s Porch ». This intrigued me, because not only do they not know each other, they feel very differenly about many things. So I checked out their links, and soon discovered the wave of post-modern or “poMo” Christianity, also known as Emergent, emerging church, post-Protestantism, post-foundationalism, and many other names which are meant to be as open as possble. (I tend to capitalize the M, to keep “pomo” from looking like “porno!”)

This is may be something big. Very big. I’ve visited dozens of poMo sites, and have also been visiting Ron’s church, Symphonic », regularly. I’ve also read Brian McLaren’s » A Generous Orthodoxy, and last week, I finished his two dialogue novels, A New Kind of Christian, and The Story We Find Ourselves In. (The final book of the set, The Last Word… and the Word after That, is to be released on Good Friday.) I’m impressed. I feel that Brian is essentially doing for Protestants what Matthew Fox tried to do for Catholics about 20 years ago.

One difference, however, is that McLaren is writing to a much broader, and generally more conservative audience, and is much more careful with words. (Fox was actually booted from the Dominican order for not being careful enough with his words.) In McLaren’s case, it’s even more critical, because in conservative Protestant circles, words tend to be interpreted as narrowly as possible. Christian can sometimes mean “someone who interprets the Bible like my pastor does.”

One of the basic ideas of the emerging church is that just as humanity moved from the ancient world to the medieval world in the 6th century, and the Middle Ages yielded to the modern world in 16th century, in the 20th-21st centuries, we are moving into the post-modern age. What that means is uncertain, except that modern institutions (including the modern conception of church), built in the modern age to serve the modern world, are no longer working that well and will soon be irrelevant to post-modern society.

This was just the sort of stuff I was looking for in my church environments about 15 years ago, but it simply wasn’t there then. In short, I’m thrilled about the potential of the emergent movement (though Emergent » says don’t call it a movement). However, I use the word “potential” deliberately. Some self-described poMo churches seem to be simply changing matters of style, creating “groovy” new ways to worship and evangelize, like the Jesus movement did in the 60s and 70s, while keeping a truncated theology that still sees getting people “saved” as the end of the road. Others have a sense that this really calls everything into question–and are open to the possibility that we have grossly misunderstood what Jesus’ Good News is all about–something that I as a mystic, strongly believe to be the case.

I haven’t really heard the emergent conversation address theosis or awakening yet. Because of this, I wonder if poMo Christianity might run the risk of looking for the answer, without finding it. Still, how wonderful it is to see people actually looking!

Rick at a new life emerging has blogged some compelling insights into Augustine’s childhood abuse and his subsequent development of the idea of original sin.