Things are a changin....

So, all the Barak Obama jargon about change certainly has an energy that is contagious. As already referenced, I am one who actually likes change and that exhilarating feeling of not really knowing what is around the corner....

With all this talk of change in the media, I have been intrigued with the idea and found some similar conversations regarding church/Christianity/faith in some books recently which have "lit my fire" so to speak....

I love it when my mind is whirling around with new ideas, not really sure how I feel about them, but energized by something new to contemplate and think about. I have to think that one grows when they challenge and explore their view on life/God/world/people. So I am going with the change idea, as a positive thing.

For example, Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola. It is a book written by a guy who has been involved in a "home church" for 15 years. They meet at different peoples home. No one person leads. The "service" structure depends on each week, day, member- so no 20 min worship, 10 min announcement, 30 min sermon, a closing and then dismissal. No dressing up. Not the latest and greatest videos, media clips, and musical technology which sure does make church seem "relevant" and "cool". Well, not to diss all those churches that do embrace these practices, but they are not my cup of tea and always leave me wanting more....

How more "relevant" could be meeting in another person's home, coming as you are, sharing life together, being led with the spirit as to the group's needs that week- maybe its sharing what God has done in your life, maybe its a teaching on a scripture or something read, maybe its time in prayer, maybe its quiet worship, maybe its loud worship, maybe its talking, eating, laughing. Wow, I would want to go every week!! Yes, its less human control and managing...more faith required, but come on, let's put our big kid pants on and grow up!

I just got really excited thinking about that idea.....!!!

So anyways, this book, Pagan Christianity, talks about practices of the church and how many of them did not actually originate from "christian" practice of the early church (the disciples shortly after Christ's death) but from the cultures of societies past. A lot of history, which some might find boring (my husband got really annoyed), but to me gave it credibility. It just makes you think about things. Like with a church's budget- why pay so much for a church building when it is used by people only a few times a week? Couldn't that money be used to help people without more effectively? And pastors- When did they start going to seminary and requiring all this "education"...The disciples were "untrained, unschooled" men, but were able to minister the power and message of Christ pretty effectively. Now its not to say that all these things are bad or wrong, but to put it out there that they might not have to be the staple and their origins are not necessarily "christian".

And another book, Jesus for President (by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw)(and i would check out the intro to the website). I am still reading but there is so much that excites me about it.

First, from Revelation 18:2-5, John writes:

"Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sings
so that you will not receive any of her plagues'

for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes..."

And then the author's commentary (p.151)

"John's language couldn't be clearer: we are to "come out" of her, literally to pull ourselves out. Scholars point out that this is erotic language and that the words John uses are the same ones used for coitus interruptus- to interrupt sexual intercourse before climax. As John is speaking of this steamy love affair with the empire, he calls the church to "pull out of her"- to leave the romance with the world and be wooed by God, to remember our first love, to say no to all other lovers. Certainly he made his readers blush. And its not easy to pull out of a relationship of dependency and romance, of lavish gifts and captivating beauty, especially with a bride as beautiful as Rome or America."

The subtitle is "a book to provoke the christian political imagination" and that is what it does...makes you question the so called "christian" ideals of the USA and what loyalty we have to the country, when we might not agree with all of "her" decisions and ways. ...

Like I said, I am still reading and being challenged. Check this article out which delves into the book's message more : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-exley/jesus-for-president-a-re_b_94489.html

Don't be scared to question and examine...If you are sure you have found the truth, then you should be confident in your explorations!

Now after all this thought, I am anxious to figure out what in the heck to DO to change the way I LIVE my life. Much harder than the thinking part.