I’m glad Mark Scandrette is blogging again and writing about things like “a Jesus Dojo.” He’s one of the few writers I know who thinks widely and freely enough about what it means to be a follower of Jesus to inspire me. Far from leaving the faith in such venturing, I believe he trusts that there is a resilient reality of life in Jesus that will capture the hearts and minds of people in any age, including this postmodern one. I relate well with his latest post, in which he says:

Changes in our society and resulting consciousness are raising new questions about what it means to be faithful to the way of Jesus, and how to understand the unfolding story of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Many of us are rediscovering the holistic and integrative nature of the message and work of Jesus– the message and reality that the kingdom of God is present and progressing. We bring new questions to ancient traditions and texts. Instead of primarily asking, “How do I get to heaven when I die?” more and more of us wonder “What does it mean to live conscious of God and God’s purposes in the hear and now? “

Yes, that’s me. He goes on to say that more and more passionate followers of Jesus are not interested in serving in traditional roles: pastor, missionary, etc. They don’t divide their roles in life into secular versus holy categories and roles. They want to live in community that is engaged with a variety of others and serve the poor and marginalized whether in ministries or NGO’s. They want to make a difference.

Skeptics will wonder where these people are, and why they hardly register statistically. I think many don’t indentify themselves as evangelicals, even though they share a similar faith in Jesus. They affirm Jesus but hesitate to call themselves Christians. They don’t want the religious and political baggage that comes with the label.

But they — well, we — believe the good news Jesus announced is worth sharing. We want people to experience forgiveness and love in a way that truly changes everything, starting with ourselves and extending to the world. I grew up going to a place called church listening to sermons about our duty to tell everyone about Jesus and invite them to come inside. But there was remarkably little vision about how following Jesus would alter my daily life and relationships out there.

Growing numbers in recent generations have disdained faith by proxy through participation in religious systems, and they are sick of illusions and mere words. They want to know and experience God in reality.

In a holistically oriented environment skeptical people are less convinced by the rationality of Christian belief and more curious to see if Christ-oriented faith actually makes a positive difference in the quality and character of a person’s life….People of all ages and cultural backgrounds are sensing a pull towards a way of faith that is more holistic, integrative and socially engaged… It is a quest to embody a way of life that reflects the goodness and beauty of the kingdom of God.

These days I don’t feel compelled to tell everyone about my faith. I want to live it out. If it’s real, and the Love of God is in me, then people will see. If they respond, or ask questions, then I may invite them to share the journey for awhile.

We’re taking steps to move forward with our work in Cambodia. Tomorrow we’ll meet with several people I’ve brought to Cambodia in the past year, and we’ll make plans to launch our Japanese NPO by the end of this month. About half the people who will meet are followers of Jesus. The other half are not following Jesus, but they are drawn to the journey of learning to love with us. As we travel and share our hearts in words and action along the way, I trust they’ll see whether Jesus is a reality in us or not, and the Spirit of God will be at work in us all.

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I received this by email today. The writer said to think about the song as a critique of modernism. What does it say about modernism? Feel free to share your own thoughts below.

Supertramp – The Logical Song

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily,
Joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
Clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world’s asleep,
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man.
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.

Now watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical,
Liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re
Acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!

At night, when all the world’s asleep,
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man.
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.

Here is how I replied:

When he was young he lived freely in the moment. Then in school he was taught to function and contribute responsibly in society. It was a project to transform the way he thought to a way that was logical but not connected to his real self (it was cynical). It was not true. After years in the system, now he lays awake wondering who he is. He feels like a simple man forced into a complicated way of living and thinking (i.e., pretending). He wonders whether anything that he learned is of value at all.

Postmoderns suspect, or know, that modernism failed in it’s project to make us better, and to make the world a better place. But we’ve been so shaped by it that we don’t know how to change our way of thinking. We are accused of being negative, because all we can do is reject and deny the logical answers and patterns that we had to give and accept. We yearn for a positive way forward, for truth, and a new way of thinking, and we remember the freedom and simplicity of childhood looking for clues. But the truth is not in denial or looking back. Perhaps it starts with awareness and embracing mystery.

I’m reminded of something Jim Palmer writes about, that repentance (metanoia in Greek) means “a new way of thinking about everything.” Rather than changing ourselves, which is the modern way, Jesus tells us the Kingdom of God is here — we just need to have eyes to see and a willingness to change course. And, of course, we still need to drop our modern habits of trying to control and understand everything.

To paraphrase something Peter Rollins says, If you want to understand love, do what lovers do. If you want to know Jesus, join what Jesus is doing.

I was going to include the following interview with Peter Rollins in another post, but here you go. Peter Rollins is a Jesus follower from Ireland. If you are interested in “new kinds of Christians” (and what that means) then watch this.

(UPDATE) And then there’s this (h/t: Brant):

Sad, when you think about it

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