God says, “I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

“Choose life.” That’s God’s call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions … even in our nonactions. This choice for life starts in a deep interior place. Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings. The most important question is not “Do I kill?” but “Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?”
— Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey

I stayed in the classroom after class the other day to catch up on some blogs & plug some due dates into iCal.  As I sat and worked I noticed another guy had stayed behind too, and after a couple of minutes we began to talk about ourselves, our churches, and our desires for ministry. We talked for about half an hour, and I noticed something in our conversation — I have become a very pessimistic person when it comes to church.

Both he and I have had our struggles with churches that are built on programs & luring people in — where they are so focused on presentation that there is little in the way of discipleship.  We both have frustrations about our tribe, its sacred cows, and its legalistic tendencies.  The difference is that his dark clouds have silver linings, and mine are just full of thunder.  

It seems that I have come to a point where I am so discontent that I have stopped living in the hope of the better way.  I am part of this emerging conversation, but as Henri Nouwen has reminded me above, nothing can emerge from the ashes if life isn’t present.  My enthusiasm for turning consumers into Christ followers has been replaced with cynicism concerning the modern church & its ability to be transformed — my blessings have given way to curses.  

In light of this self-revelation, I have decided to focus my journey through this Lenten season on recovering my hope for transformation.  I may be preparing being prepared to plant a new faith community here in Topeka or elsewhere, but for now God has me in this place and time to minister to the community I am a part of.  

I pray that God will restore my heart of blessings, so that I might seek life.  I hope that you will think of me in your time of prayer too.

While many bloggers started the new year by recapping the highlights of 2007, Kester Brewin also looked forward to 2008.  One of his predictions for the coming year is “the collapse of the emerging church as a popular project.”  He further clarified his hunch on Emergent Village saying, 

I sense that some of the key players are less and less willing to work with that particular language. I think that, whereas a few years ago people were excited by the prospect, people are getting used to/bored/fed up with ‘emerging church’ as a concept, and will thus leave it behind.     

I don’t think the issue is the emerging conversation.  Whether we are speaking about the conversation itself, or the language used.  The dangers of participating in the conversation come from the “Emergent Church” dissenters, and their growing hostility towards anyone who seems to be a leading voice in what they want to label as a movement.

These dissenting  crusaders define the “movement” and identify the “leaders” themselves, and continue to pigeonhole the language into definitions — most of which aren’t even a part of the meaning implied by those in the conversation.  Their oversimplification leaves postmodern meaning ‘denying truth,’ and the purpose of the “Emergent Church” being the deconstruction of all tradition, orthodoxy, and practice in the evangelical church.It is no surprise that these horribly skewed definitions labels leave those who are seeking a better way to live as Christfollowers wanting to distance themselves from the controversy for the sake of progress.

Moving away from hot button terms and labels will only keep the conversation a few months ahead of its critics, IMHO.  Meanwhile, as the bashers work diligently to follow the evolution, those who genuinely desire to be a part of the conversation may never be able to find a place in the dance where they can cut in.  Instead of abandoning terms and anything emerging, I feel we should continue to address these incorrect labels and accusations with constant clarification in our conversations.  I have always tried to be conscious of my language.  I call it speaking out of the definition.  When you unpack your terminology in an effort to be better understood, you also leave those who wish to attack you with less room to twist and manipulate your words.

This is where I feel the emerging conversation might continue its efforts to overcome the intentional misrepresentations of others, while at the same time making it easier for those new to the conversation, to join in the journey of finding a better way.

What do you think?