I have something to confess; I found the UnChristian book terribly boring. Really.
I had to read it a second time to do this group and it got worse the second time around.
While the topics are good to talk about, I think the answer to the question, "Are Christians judgmental, homophobic, too political, sheltered?" is...
YES!
And, there is not really a heck of a lot more to say after that except maybe, "WE REPENT, WE HAVE TOTALLY MADE A MESS OF ALL THIS! WHAT WERE WE THINKING?"
I think things got like this because we have no idea what it means to be the church or follow Jesus. Oh, and when I say "like this" I don't just mean the UnChristian stuff, I also mean how we have made the church to be the most uninteresting, dull, navel gazing, totally unrelated to my life, kind of place. Just my personal opinion. Yeah, the UnChristian stuff is important but I don't think it is the real issue. It is the fruit, not the root.
Today, I was thinking about all this as I sat in my minivan breathing in the fumes of the Rolling Hills United Methodist Church's parking lot while my son was in his trumpet lesson and I was feeling a certain amount of sadness BUT THEN I picked up the book I had with me--- "The Tangible Kingdom." I have read this book a couple times but I read a lot and so had this good feeling but wasn't totally sure why. So I read the first four chapters and thought, this is totally what the Cal-Pac book group needs! I laughed, I cried and (here is the big thing), I wanted to keep reading.
So, give it another chance. There are really get books out there that will challenge and inspire us. Interested?
Watch a video here
Nicole: I, too, found UnChristian a bit hard to wade through; however, I also found that it hit home.
ReplyDeleteWhat I mean is that we are all guilty of being a bit smug (regardless of our position to the left or to the right of the political spectrum)
So I resonate with the notion of some introspection, (not the navel-gazing kind, but the really-looking-at-what-I-am-doing-to-contribute-to-the-mess kind!), some confession, repentance, and resolve to do better.
Oh, and GRACE! Lots of GRACE! and maybe some LOVE. And some good company, with fellow travelers.
Thanks for moderating this exploration-- important if a bit boring-- and for thinking about our next book.
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteBeing a Civil Engineer in a former lifestyle, and being a number crunching tech geek, this book was very interesting to me in a couple ways and was disappointing in others.
It has helped me discuss some of the external attitudes that need to avoided as part of our core beliefs in the new start. Several of the people involved in the church that were unchurched used to use those same words before they connected with us.
The disappointment is that it really has shown how we, as a United Methodist Movement aren't even a part of the conversation being discussed in many aspects of the book because of a certain type of church which has become the "Face of the Church" in American in the last decade.
Why haven't we clearly been articulating our efforts through UMCOR in Katrina Aide, why haven't our community based outreach programs like the Saving Stations in Baltimore or the work of Glide UMC been promoted as the Face of Christianity in America. Where are the national discussions about how Church of the Ressurection has decided not to build their Mega Worship Center, but has instead decided to use its resources to reinvigorate the Historic Churches in downtown as they try and revitalize a community that is falling apart?
Looking forward to the next book and continued discussion. Hope to be actively involved in posting more in the future.
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI posted on the last article before I read this one!
As we move on, the suggestion I made was that 3 or 4 authors/readers are identified to post initial comments to the Blog so the responsibility is shared around.
What do you (and everyone else) think?
Terry VH
re: Who we are and where we need to be going...
ReplyDelete...
It's clear that unChristian was written from the point of view of a more conservative church leader's perspective. And that such a pespective now represents the most common representation of Christianity in our society.
It's also clear that much of the book are things many of us know all too well.
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With that being said, we have to wrestle with the deep challenge that mainline churches lost it over the last 30 years. (Remember Charlton Heston at the end of "Planet of the Apes?") For all our talk about being a prophetic minority, we effectively sidetracked ourselves from a vital, Wesleyan based offering of spiritual growth / community outreach through small faithful growth groups that is our heritage.
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I think that if we had been more balanced, re: heart and hand, the results would have been very different. And we would not be worrying about all the images that young adults have are brought up in the book.
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By the way, while the 18-29 group is important, I'm much more concerned about where the 30-49 year old group is. Has anyone seen any studies or insights into that group?