Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[Time]

One Sunday last fall, Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor at the Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, was preaching on the logic and power of Jesus’ words “Love thine enemy.” As is his custom, Hybels was working a small semicircle of easels arrayed behind his lectern, reinforcing key phrases. Hybels’ preaching is economical, precise of tone and gesture. Again by custom, he was dressed in black, which accentuated his pale complexion, blue eyes and hair, once Dutch-boy blond but now white. Indeed, if there is a whiter preacher currently running a megachurch, that man must glow.

Yet neither Hybels’ sermon, nor his 23,400-person congregation, is as white as he is. Along with Jesus, he invoked Martin Luther King Jr. Then he introduced Shawn Christopher, a former backup singer for Chaka Khan, who offered a powerhouse rendition of “We Shall Overcome.” As the music swelled, Larry and Renetta Butler, an African-American couple in their usual section in the 7,800-seat sanctuary, exchanged glances. Since Hybels decided 10 years ago to aggressively welcome minorities to his lily-white congregation, Renetta says, few sermons pass without a cue that he is still at it. “He always throws in something,” she says. She’s been around long enough to recall when this wasn’t the case.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. famously declared that “11 o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week … And the Sunday school is still the most segregated school.” That largely remains true today. Despite the growing desegregation of most key American institutions, churches are still a glaring exception. Surveys from 2007 show that fewer than 8% of American congregations have a significant racial mix.

Since Reconstruction, when African Americans fled or were ejected from white churches, black and white Christianity have developed striking differences of style and substance. The argument can be made that people attend the church they are used to; many minorities have scant desire to attend a white church, seeing their faith as an important vessel of cultural identity. But those many who desire a transracial faith life have found themselves discouraged — subtly, often unintentionally, but remarkably consistently. In an age of mixed-race malls, mixed-race pop-music charts and, yes, a mixed-race President, the church divide seems increasingly peculiar. It is troubling, even scandalous, that our most intimate public gatherings — and those most safely beyond the law’s reach — remain color-coded.

But in some churches, the racial divide is beginning to erode, and it is fading fastest in one of American religion’s most conservative precincts: Evangelical Christianity. According to Michael Emerson, a specialist on race and faith at Rice University, the proportion of American churches with 20% or more minority participation has languished at about 7.5% for the past nine years. But among Evangelical churches with attendance of 1,000 people or more, the slice has more than quadrupled, from 6% in 1998 to 25% in 2007.

Read more here.

[From me]

Lets hope this trend continues. I saw the beginning of the end when I started inviting people of color to a church I was serving at. The thing is my children don’t see color. My daughter’s best friend before we moved here was a different shade than she is. And many of my son’s best friends don’t look like him either. If we truly believe in John 3:16 then we must reach everyone!

What do you think?

[HT] Vicki Frye

[NY Times]

Things went smoothly for the first hour of the Twitter experiment at Trinity Church in Manhattan on Good Friday in April.While hundreds of worshipers watched the traditional dramatization of the Crucifixion from pews in the church, one of New York’s oldest, thousands more around the world followed along on smartphones and computers as a staff member tweeted short bursts of dialogue and setting (“Darkness and earthquake,” “Crucify him!”).

The trouble began in the second hour.

Twitter’s interactivity — its essence — made it easy for an anonymous text-messager to insert an unscripted character into the Passion play: a Roman guard who breezily claimed, “I’ve got dibs on his robe.” When another texter introduced a rogue Mary Magdalene, the intrusion only confirmed the obvious: Twitter’s trademark limit of 140 characters per message is no bar against crudity.

Religious groups from Episcopalians to Orthodox Jews have signed up for Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks with the same gusto that celebrities and politicians have, and for some of the same reasons — to gain a global platform and to appeal to young people.

Still, many clerics admit to an uneasiness about the merger of worship and electronic chatter.

In online debates and private discussions, leaders of all faiths have been weighing pros and cons and diagramming the boundaries of acceptable interactions: Should the congregation have a Facebook page, or should it be the imam’s or priest’s? Should there be limited access? Censoring? Is it appropriate for a clergy member to “friend” a minor?

Some recoil at the informality and unpredictability of the crowds marshaled by social media, and at their seeming immunity — even hostility — to the authority of established institutions. More deeply, some in the clergy see a basic tension between the anonymous world of online life and the meaning of religious community.

“In Judaism, we believe that God resides in the community — among people in the same room at the same time, hearing each other’s voices and looking in each other’s eyes,” said Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik of the Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens, who also wanted it known that he carries an iPhone and a laptop and is talking with his congregation about a Facebook page.

“But can you tweet a minyan?” he asked, referring to the quorum of 10 people required for most Jewish devotions. “I don’t think so.”

Religious groups are answering many such questions for themselves — and, for the most part, signing up for interactive media, said the Rev. Bill Reichart, a Presbyterian minister in Atlanta who leads an informal network of Web consultants who work with people of a broad spectrum of faiths.

“If total control is what you want, social media will frustrate you,” he said, reprising his advice to the clergy. “But the trade-off is the ability to hear and learn, reach out in new directions.” Many clerics, desperate to connect with young people, have been like radio dispatchers using the wrong bandwidth, he said. “The young don’t do e-mail anymore,” he said. “They do Facebook.”

Evangelical Christian ministers were among the earliest Web networkers, and today, popular preachers like Rick Warren and Joel Osteen have thousands of followers on Twitter. At Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens, Pastor Adam Durso and his brother Chris, the youth director, keep in contact with their flock, sometimes hourly, on a half-dozen social media sites.

Leaders in other faiths are catching on, but moving slowly, said Monique Cuvelier, a Web consultant in Boston who attributes some of the resistance to the conservatism of any established institution, and some to a sense of privacy: Gossiping about the rabbi’s wife may be common in temple parking lots, “but having it end up on the Internet — that freaks some people out,” she said.

Read more here.

[From me]

I hear people lamenting the evils of technology. Sure there are bad elements to it. But you had better get on board or be left behind. The world is changing whether we like it or not. Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, My Space, texting, Looped, etc…. are the way people communicate. Some can say it is impersonal but they have probably not tried it.

I have reconnected with people I haven’t seen in 20+ years through social media. I have met people online and then actually met in person at conferences later because of social media. I pray for people and they pray for me. Are they relationships? Yes. Maybe not in the same way as the past but they are relationships. People can complain or chose to adapt. The church had better adapt or be swept away in the technological tsunami.

What do you think?

[Time]

John Voelz isn’t trying to brag, but it’s fair to say he was down with Twitterbefore most people knew it was a proper noun. Last year, Voelz, a pastor, was tweeting at a conference outside Nashville about ways to make the church experience more creative — ways to “make it not suck” — when suddenly it hit him: Twitter. 

Voelz and David McDonald, the other senior pastor at Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, Mich., spent two weeks educating their congregation about Twitter, the microblogging site that challenges users to communicate in 140 characters or less. They held training sessions where congregants brought in their laptops, iPhones and Blackberrys. They upped the bandwidth in the auditorium. (Finding God on YouTube)

There’s a time and a place for technology, and most houses of worship still say it’s not at morning Mass. But instead of reminding worshippers to silence their cell phones, a small but growing number of churches around the country are following Voelz’ lead and encouraging people to integrate text-messaging into their relationship with God.

In Seattle, Mars Hill churchgoers regularly tweet throughout the service. In New York City, Trinity Church marked Good Friday by tweeting the Passion play, detailing the stages of Jesus’ crucifixion in short bursts. At Next Level Church, outside Charlotte, it’s not only okay to fuse social networking technology with prayer; it’s desirable.

On Easter Sunday, pastor Todd Hahn prefaced his sermon by saying, “I hope many of you are tweeting this morning about your experience with God.”

Read more here.

[From me]

I’ve “tweeted” at conferences several times in the past year. I’ve tweeted during sporting events and while traveling.  But I had never tweeted during church until yesterday.  I was prompted because I was distracted during the sermon by a woman on the front row who decided to comment out loud after every sentence the pastor made. I understand “Amen’s” and other agreement phrases but this was rather disruptive at least to me. I don’t plan on it again mainly because Cassandra probably wouldn’t like it.

For those who don’t Twitter or understand it they can’t get what it is all about.  It is like a constant stream of information. You will never catch every “tweet.” If you try you will get frustrated. Some “tweet” to let people know what they are doing. Some tweet to market, others to meet people, and who knows what else people use it for.

It is hard to explain Twitter unless you try it.  Have you ever tweeted during church?

What do you think?

[Campus Times]

In its recent cover story, “The Decline and Fall of Christian America,” Newsweek magazine presented a series of recent poll numbers suggesting that the number of Americans identifying as Christian has diminished. The evidence would seem to suggest that the Christian faith is in crisis, and I would agree. However, we must be clear about the nature of this crisis: Declining church attendance is the symptom more than the problem.

It is the churchgoers themselves who have failed to make Christ’s message seem relevant in today’s society. This disconnect has occurred, in part, due to the rise of the Christian Right, which is becoming increasingly out of touch with the spiritual interests of the nation.

Modern Christian fundamentalism began in the early 20th century, partially as a reaction to the academic study of scripture, which some believers saw as a threat to Biblical legitimacy. Since the 1970s, fundamentalism and other types of conservative Christianity has been on the rise, and this has changed the faith landscape in this country. The leaders of this movement have intentionally radicalized the religion, and the moderates are often left with nowhere to turn. People are steadily leaving Christian churches, and who can blame them?

Jesus’s teachings addressed a wide variety of topics, many of them relating very directly to progressivism and social justice. Over the past few decades, however, the faith has shifted its emphasis from a more balanced vision of the Christian message to a narrow agenda made up of “hotbutton” issues, such as abortion.

While I decline to offer an opinion on the issue of abortion, I would say that Christians can stay true to their convictions while still acknowledging that a person can be a good Christian and either pro-life or pro-choice.

Furthermore, if Christianity is to have any future, it must abandon the out-of-date patriarchal system that has prevailed for too long. It is essential that there be full acceptance of gays and lesbians and a renewed focus on social justice issues, including poverty, equality, environmentalism and the local community. We cannot have a faith that cares only about personal salvation and not the social gospel.

Read more here.

[From me]

This author seems like a nice person who is buying in to the post-modern theology of I believe in and it is good for me but you can believe whatever you want.  That sounds good but the problem is it isn’t true.  I will agree with the author that there are a lot of people who speak for Christianity that need to keep quiet. I probably need to at times! But Jesus wasn’t the inclusionary person that some make Him out to be.

Jesus said in John 14:6 that He was the “only” way to the Father.  That doesn’t sound very inclusionary to me. It may be offensive but Jesus was.  Jesus loved everyone–yes. That is why He died on a cross for the sins of the world.  But He didn’t die so we could believe whatever we want.  Yes, He is love but love means telling people the truth! 

Are there problems in the church? Yes. Are there hypocrites in the church? Yes. I’m one. But the author suggests that the Christianity may not have a future unless it changes.  That is a lie!  Christianity will survive with or without our help.  Sure we need to find ways to share Jesus in relevant ways!  But don’t mistake methods with the message!  The message can not and will not change.  If something was right in Jesus time, it is right today! If something was a sin in Jesus day it is still a sin today! 

The church in America may be on decline.  But maybe what is happening is real believers will count the cost that Jesus talked about in Luke 9:23. Do we need to find new methods to reach people? Yes.  Do we change the truth of the Bible to make Christianity attractive? Never! 

What do you think?

[Huffington Post]

The Vermont Legislature is considering a bill that would legalize so-called “sexting” between teenagers.

Sexting refers to the exchange of explicit photos and videos via mobile phone. Under current laws, participants can be charged with child pornography, but lawmakers are considering a bill to legalize the consensual exchange of graphic images between two people 13 to 18 years old. Passing along such images to others would remain a crime.

Read more here.

[From me]

Why? I don’t want someone sending my kids this kind of trash! In a day where we are trying to teach responsible behavior, why would a state make it easier for children to engage in behavior that can harm them? How are they going to know if it is consensual? Do you think teens are going to want to rat out their fellow classmates?

What do you think?