Survivor, Chess Strategy, and Ritual in Today's World

There has been a trend in the last generation or so to move away from traditional worship. There is a sense that the traditions and rituals of the church are a thing of the past, remnants of a by-gone era, and barriers to new seekers finding Christ. There is almost an anti-traditionalism in many churches. One church I was a part of, the Contemporary Service had no order in the bulletin...only a note that we followed the Spirit's lead for that service. It just so happened the Spirit led about the same every single week.

But as I look at the culture around us, I see some signs that the ritual may be making a comeback. There is a particular group, that meets together every Thursday night, that follows a particular liturgy every week, led by it's pastor. In fact, this group of faithful numbers around 20 million every week. See if their rituals look familiar to you...

"Want to know what you're playing for?"
"In addition, the winning tribe will send one member of the losing tribe to Exile Island. Worth playing for?"
"Survivors ready. Go!"
"______ wins reward!"
"[Losing tribe name]: I've got nothing for you."
"We now bring in _____, returning from Exile Island. We're now ready to get to today's challenge. First things first..."
"On my go."
"_____ wins immunity!"
"I'll go tally the votes."
"______th person voted out of Survivor: Gabon is.... The tribe has spoken. ...Grab your torches, head back to camp."

Every week on Survivor, Jeff Probst (ironically enough an ordained pastor) leads a small group through this rite, and is followed faithfully by an extensive home viewing audience. Probst does not deviate from this formula in the slightest, except to insert personal/tribal/locational names as appropriate. Watch for a couple of weeks, and see what I mean. People eat this stuff up, even though he's been doing this for 9 years (with only a few changes, such as the addition of Exile Island). And if your a fan of ritual, like me, you even get a little chill at certain phrases, especially "the tribe has spoken" (usually followed by the sound of a digeridoo). So why, when 20 million people participate in this liturgy every single week, do we believe that ritual is a thing of the past?

I've got a theory. Because, you see, there are two types of ritual, and a particular rite can move back and forth between these two categories on any given day. There are those that have meaning, and those that exist for their own sake. Ritual is meant to serve a purpose. In our case, to point believers and seekers alike to Christ, to guide them through the worship of God in meaningful and practical ways, and to facilitate the communal life of the congregation. It's a container, as it were, for things of God.

But there are times that ritual becomes an end unto itself. Whenever it begins to be done a certain way "because it has always been that way," then the signs are apparent that it's sliding (or has lept) into the self-serving category. Rather than creating meaning and guiding worship, they take up space, time, money, personnel, and give nothing back in return. They cause us to serve them, rather than benefiting us through their practice.

In Survivor, the rituals make sense. There is a flow to every episode. You can set your watch by it. It allows the story to progress, and provides the challenge and drama for the players and viewers alike. It means something. If Jeff decided one week to just say "The Tribe has spoken," and snuff out a torch, but never actually asked anybody to leave ("we voted because we always do"), the game would devolve rapidly. But every week, Probst provides a sense of order, and acts as a guide through what would otherwise be a complicated clash of diverse personalities in a stressful situation with limited resources. Kinda like some weeks at church...

So what can we do with our rituals? In chess strategy, there is such a thing as a "bad bishop". A bad bishop is stuck behind a bunch of other pieces, with no room to move, no open lines for attack, and serving no actual purpose. It is taking up space, and providing no benefit. It may even be hindering you by being a target for your opponent to attack, which you have to commit resources to defend. So two courses of action are recommended if you have a "bad bishop." (1) Sacrifice him to gain some other advantage, perhaps in trade for an opposing piece or to clear some space, or (2) get him out from behind the other pieces somehow, into the open, and give him purpose again.

What does that have to do with traditions? Well, if they're serving no valuable purpose, we either need to (1) get rid of them, in order to free up space/time/money/personnel for other more beneficial ventures, or (2) rediscover their purpose, their meaning, and put them out in front where they can do some good in pointing us to Christ.

This involves asking some questions...How did this ritual start? What was it's original purpose? Is that benefit still needed? Is there something that would better accomplish that goal? Have we added or changed it's meaning in order to justify it's presence? Does everyone understand why we do it this way, or only key people? How can we share that meaning with others?

To paraphrase what many say about technology...Tradition is great...when it works. And it's goal is to take the collective wisdom of previous generations, what's worked, what hasn't, what's provided benefit, what's created meaning and guided purpose, and use that to inform our daily lives with Christ. Whether it's candles on the altar, or the practice of Lent, we should be habitually (haha) reexamining our rituals, our traditions, and making sure they serve the purpose of pointing us to Christ. Because if they exist for their own sake alone, we either need to light a new fire within them, or remove their torch entirely.

The pastor has spoken. May God bless you on your journey with Him this day.

Click to return religion to factory default settings...

Recently I was reading an article from the George Barna group, in which the contention was made that Christianity was no longer America's "default" religion. Much as it was usually assumed that if you were of a particular nationality, you were of a particular religion (ie, Irish were Catholics, Arabs were Muslims, residents of Lakeland, FL were Methodists), it was typically assumed that Americans were some form of Christian.

Now Barna's survey (at least this one...they do so many...) does not deal directly with the stats on who claims what faith, but rather handles a more perceptual issue. "The survey shows half of Americans believe the Christian faith no longer has a lock on people’s hearts. Overall, 50% of the adults interviewed agreed that Christianity is no longer the faith that Americans automatically accept as their personal faith, while just 44% disagreed and 6% were not sure."

They also explore stats based on region, denomination, and ethnicity. On the other hand, they also note that 74% of adults surveyed agree that their faith is the most important factor in determining their morality.

Now, there are lies, outrageous lies, and statistics, but let me play with that for just a second. If Christianity is the default religion of our country, you can make the assumption that your neighbor at least understands the basic tennets of the faith, even if they are the one guy in town who would never darken the door of the church. Which defines your evangelistic technique in a way. Because then yoAur goal is to take the knowledge Billy already has, and move them to make a decision based on it. Much 18th and 19th (and, well, 20th) century evangelism was based on this idea. You know about heaven and hell...so what would happen if you died tonight? "Smoking or non?" Or so goes most bumper sticker evangelistic efforts. They were pushy, not to be mean, but because your target audience was sitting on the fence of faith, maybe even putting it off til they were older.

But we live in different times, which call for different ways of explaining the same Gospel.

1Co 9:19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
1Co 9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
1Co 9:21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

1Co 9:22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
1Co 9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Nowadays, we can't make the same assumption that we used to. Your neighbor is as likely as not to have grown up in church. They may have a basic understanding of Jesus, they may not. They may have an informed understanding of Christianity, or they might only know what they see on TV. They might have had a good church experience, a bad church experience, or no church experience. They may even have a set of beliefs already, as a Buddhist, a Wiccan, a Muslim. Or they may be in that ever growing category of people in our country who proclaim themselves "spiritual but not religious." The fact is, until you start talking, you have no idea.

Our current pluralism in this country is not unlike that which Paul was living with. On any given day, he was running into Jews, but also Greeks and Romans with an amazing diversity of religious beliefs...in different pagan gods...in mystery religions...in philosophical systems that may or may not include deities. And to each of these, he took a different approach. With Jews, he might point to Christ as the fulfillment of prophecy. To Greeks, perhaps the Unknown God they had built an altar to centuries before. But it varied. You couldn't convince a Roman based on Messianic promises...but you might be able to appeal to something else, once you got to know them.

All that to say...probably our best evangelistic tool today is listening. Because in order to understand how to share with someone about Christ, we first need to understand what they do and don't know. Maybe their experience of church has been judgement and condemnation. Best not to start with explaining how much of a sinner they are...maybe they need to hear more of Christ's sacrificial love for them instead. Maybe they've found comfort believing in Allah, because the structure of Islam guides them. So understanding their journey to get there might reveal that along the way, nobody's ever explained that our God has a plan for their life, and that Jesus was more than just a prophet.

Assumption is the absolute worst thing we can do as we share our faith. Assuming that the gal at Winn-Dixie is a Christian. Assuming you never see Paul at church because he just likes to fish on Sundays (as opposed to how his church growing up treated his dad when he was out of work). Assuming that people just need to "make a decision," when they may not have all the facts in the first place. The same "safe" assumptions that guided us before aren't necessarily true today.

So if you want to share your faith, start by asking questions...good, caring questions. And go lovingly from there.

Marks of the Church: I'll be Apostolic for Christmas

Happy Advent and Merry Christmas everybody! As the carols play, the shopping intensifies, and the stockings are hung by the AC Unit with care, it's easy to forget what it is we're doing all this for. Santa gets more “air time” than Jesus these days. And it calls us back to the need for a good witness this holiday season, in reminding people of this Baby born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.

Of one of the many familiar sounds during this season is the carol, “Deck the Halls”

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la, la la la, la la la.
Troll the ancient Yule tide carol, Fa la la la la, la la la la.

They require some translating for modern ears, though they are as popular as ever. Some words (gay, troll) have changed meaning since the song was written, others have almost disappeared entirely (when did you last wish someone happy Yuletide?). And so although many folks know the song, they sing it without delving into it's meaning.

Many aspects of Christmas end up becoming like this song...familiar, but without their original meaning. Even Santa Clause was once Saint Nicholas, and a model of Christian giving. But now, he more represents the fulfillment of our wishes for possessions. We managed to get our message into the culture, but in the process of things, it got garbled a little bit.

As we've been talking about the historic marks of the church over the past few months, Apostolic is the last on our list, following One, Holy, and Universal. It has a few different meanings historically. The Apostles were original disciples of Jesus who were the first to spread the message of salvation (and the term later became more broadly applied, as Paul and others took on similar roles in the church). The origin of the word is literally “Sent Ones,” those who have been sent to spread Christ's word. Alternately, those of you with some Catholic in your background may recognize the term Apostolic Succession, which implies that the leadership of the church (in one form or another) is tied back to those original disciples, with the implication that the faith is consistent down the ages. One is directly tied to reaching out, the other tied to heritage and preservation. And ironically enough, these two meanings embody one of the most ancient conflicts in the church...the nature of mission.

The question is this...how do we communicate a timeless yet ancient message to ever changing cultures? How much do we change in order to make it intelligible, and how much should be kept iron clad? Over the centuries, we have often battled back and forth with these two. At times, we have used the ways of the culture (Christmas is a great example of this, as are Catholic saints and Christian television) to try and communicate the message. Sometimes, we go to far, and water-down the Gospel in an attempt to win listeners. On the other hand, while we make great effort to protect the simple truths of the faith, sometimes we get so caught up in the ancient that we forget people don't know words like “Hark” anymore. We make an make a particular worship style or Bible translation the gold standard of our faith, regardless of whether modern ears can understand it. At worst, we get focused on preserving the institution, in a desire to pass down the ancient faith, but in the process turn inward and forget to share it with others.

Either extreme is dangerous. At one end, you loose the message, at the other, the potential recipients. But if God's Word really is inspired by Him, then no matter how ancient it is, it bears relevance to modern life, even if the language needs updated now and again. It is important for us to remember, especially at this time of year, to keep these two meanings of Apostolic in a precious balance...we must not neglect God's truth, but we must also make it intelligible to our community.

And one of the best ways to do that, my friends, is to live it in love. Because love transcends language barriers, and is hungered for in every culture. If you love others, you'll want to share the Message you know they need, but in a way that they can hear. If your truest purpose is to share God's love with others...not preservation or being accepted...then you will find the balance. And if there's anything that people need this Christmas...with a crazy economy and the stress of the holidays, it's someone to love them unconditionally.

Where we are not reaching out, and are only about ourselves, we fail to be the church. But where we are also not protecting the integrity of the message, teaching it, nurturing folks with it, learning how to dig into it and live it out, we also fail. We are not called to reach the lost with pop-psych, nor to protect the word just for us. We are called to reach out in love, offering the healing message of Jesus Christ. And that's a gift that never goes out of season.

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What is the Church...Catholic???

This month, we pick back up with our discussion of the marks of the church...one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. So what does it mean to be catholic? Ever wonder why we say that in the Apostles' Creed? Why we claim to be “one holy catholic” church? Well, for starters, the word means something beyond Roman Catholic. The word catholic actually means “universal,” such that when we claim to belong to a catholic church, we are saying that we belong to something larger than Methodism...we belong to a world-wide movement. One that is bigger than our denominations. Even when we divide, we are called to be Universal.

When colonial missionaries went out to the New World, they often brought with them more than Christianity. Many of them mistakenly thought that in order to convert the “savages” (who were a LOT more sophisticated than the Europeans realized), they needed to give them European culture, values, and language, in order for them to understand Christianity. They had confused the culture with the faith. They had forgotten the lesson of long ago, when men like Peter and Paul told their ancestors that you didn't have to become Jewish first to become a Christian. Because, as Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28) Christianity, from the word go, was something beyond your culture. It applied to and united all people exactly where they were at, no need to become something else first.

The universality of the church means it overflows the cultural boundaries we want to put it in, and finds expression in a variety of contexts. Contrary to what some of those missionaries thought, Christianity is not contained by western culture. It is not contained within any era of human history, pre-modern, medieval, modern, or post-modern, but has expressed itself somewhat differently in each time. It defies definitions of race, gender, ethnicity, culture, time, language, territory, political party, and technology. It has spread by word of mouth, pictures, ritual, print media, and now electronic means. It does not fit nicely into our neat boxes.

Now of course, there are some things that are rock-solid, as we talked about near the end of August. The humanity, divinity, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ are what define us, what unite us in our universal diversity. In the absence of these things, I hesitate to say that what we are talking about is an expression of the Universal church. Because these are the things that, despite cultural and even doctrinal differences, bind us together in the Oneness that also is a mark of the church.

But having said that, the church takes on many different forms in it's universality. The gospel is spread in English, Spanish, Swahili, Navajo, and Korean. It finds expression in the unique musical stylings of each culture. Preachers from different cultures speak in different rhythms. Different bread is used for the same Lord's Supper (and indeed, different drink as well). But all express the One True Savior, in their own individual ways.

We are linked to people very different than us, who dress different, talk with a different accent, or in a different language, whose families function different, whose ways of understanding and testing the Truth of something may vary from ours. We are united in a common of of a savior. I love that the youth in our church have begun to build bridges with other churches in the area. I love that the pastor from the CMA church down the road has been known to fill-in here. I love it whenever I see boundaries overcome in the name of Christ. For in Christ, there is neither black nor white, Hispanic nor Asian, Baptist nor Methodist, Pentecostal nor Roman Catholic, rich nor poor nor middle class, male nor female, Republican nor Democrat. Christianity finds a home in all of these diverse peoples, and those differences remind us that Christ makes us all one. Let's look for ways to express that as we move forward in ministry in our communities, celebrating the wonderful, cross-cultural universality of our common faith.

Christian Worldview Art

I was just reading in CCM magazine in the library about Matt Kearney, and the broader topic of Christian music. One of the things he notes was that he turned down like 8 exclusively Contemporary Christian labels before he signed with anybody. This brought up an editorial discussion regarding the CCM term. One editor suggested the term "Christian Worldview Music," and it really just resonated with me somehow.

It's like this: CCM has been it's own (poorly shelved) ghetto in most music stores, or it has resided in its own store, apart from the rest. I worked in Christian retail for 6 years during college and seminary, and frequently would reorganize the badly arranged "Inspirational" sectional of other music stores when nobody was looking (yes, I'm that...um...uptight...do the same with books too). I remember than in one store, I think we actually carried Evanesence for like a week (that might have been after I left), and then never saw it again. And we definitely pulled Demon Hunter because the symbol on the front (a demonic looking skull with a bullet hole...think about the name...) creeped people out. Not making value judgements on either of those, BTW. But it's definitely it's own little world. And the Christian sections of most normal music stores, you can't hardly find anything anyway, and there's no respect for stylistic differences (or alphabetic order...grrrr...).

But enough of that rant. To the point!! How much is the Church like that CD section? Off in it's own little world, isolated from the rest, and definitely appearing scraggly at times. Not that we have to me appropriately categorized, (OK, at least alphabetize the directory...) but we're very much separated, hoping the world will eventually see how cool we are, especially if we can find a style they like. If we build it right, to paraphrase the great theology of "Field of Dreams," then they will come. We hope.

But in the concept of Christian Worldview music, artists like Kearney are out in the world, writing and performing from the perspective of their relationship with Christ. And it's not just "I love Jesus" repeated 13 times (with a bridge about His love for us), but about living daily life in Christ. (Interestingly enough, I think mainstream music is starting to take a turn like this with love songs. John Mayer's stuff in particular is much broader than 13 love songs on one CD.) It's about life, struggles, challenges, and how to face that all in the world. Perhaps I idealize some, but think out this model...it sounds a little familiar. These artists are in the mainstream media, interacting with a world audience, but their perspective, what they write from, where their inspiration comes from, and the answers they seek, are all of another world. Maybe Jesus talked about something like that, eh? Like how his followers would be living in this world they were not apart of (John 17).

There's a thin line between living in this world, being salt and light, and being of this world, directed by its values. But if we've really got something worth sharing in our Lord, and I think it's plumb obvious that the rest of the world isn't just flocking to it (the nature of the fall), maybe the momentum of the Holy Spirit is outward, to where the lost sheep is wandering. Maybe we've been shelved in out own section for far too long. Maybe we need to take our music to the mainstream, and teach them to sing along.

Wrestle with that question then, and see where the journey leads you. Blessings!