taking back the land

The other week I was at a big Christian music festival in our area. Between the artists they had different ads, prizes, etc. It was a hot summer day filled with all of the Christian marketing and materialism that I could handle... all those things that annoy me about the culture the western church has substituted for Christianity - but that’s another blog, so I’ll try to focus here.

“Let’s take this land back for Jesus!” I heard shouted after a state representative for Indiana was introduced. The representative then kept going on and on about voting and taking the land back for Jesus. She gave a rambling speech about how this is a Christian nation and by voting we could restore it to what it was supposed to be. “This is your nation so take it back,” she implored. I was confused - was it Jesus’ land or ours? In any case, I was unconvinced. She was obviously catering to the audience, but in her statements and in the indignant amens I heard in the crowd I heard something frighteningly familiar.

Jesus was often surrounded by a crowd of people who were shouting and trying to convince him to take the land of Israel. It was rightfully his, right? These lousy liberals....um I mean Romans, had taken over the land and it was the duty of the spiritual leaders to purge the country of the scourge of the foreign occupiers. The pagans.

But, Jesus didn’t do as they wished. In fact, he treated the Romans with respect and value just like everyone else. After he had resisted long enough, the people were willing to crucify him because he wasn’t fitting their understanding of the Messiah - both personally and politically.

Many of the Jews were so blinded by nationalism that they couldn’t accept the kingdom Jesus had come to usher and offer. A kingdom that wasn’t won with violence or furthered by exerting power over others. Jesus never forced his will on anyone. He taught that transformation in this kingdom didn’t come through external regulations and authority, but rather through an encounter with him that changes our hearts, and through his Spirit that gives us the ability to walk in his ways. The way of restoration and wholeness, of holiness and love. Humility and servanthood.

I think Jesus still resists cries to take over because it’s not in his nature. He is God. It is his world. But his ways don’t change, and his kingdom does not look like a kingdom of this world (no matter how great we think America is).

The kingdom of God always looks like Jesus. You can’t coerce it. You can’t vote it into power. It only comes in the way he came. It changes people the way he changed people, with power that no worldly government can wield and with humility, grace, and peace that no government wants.

If we say we follow him, then we need to be about the kingdom Jesus taught about.

alas poor blogger, i knew him well

this will be the last post to my blogger account. i have moved my blog to:

web.mac.com/joshstevens79

hopefully the quality of my blog will improve with the new site. :-)

emerging youth ministry

I've been witnessing a shift in youth ministry lately. nearly every youth pastor/worker that I've talked to claims that something is different. what worked 5, 10, or 15 years ago just isn't working anymore. it's interesting to watch youth pastors, who have been working with youth for years and years, suddenly realize that their ministries are almost entirely irrelevant to youth culture.

Some of them question their own abilities and calling, while others just get bitter at this new generation of youth who won't get on board with the program. All of that just leads to confusion and lack of direction.

I've found myself at all ends of the spectrum, but I'm discovering that the challenge that exists is causing me to rethink traditional youth ministry (which is actually a pretty young 'profession') and to rediscover what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the midst of it all.

I've watched as some ministries scramble to increase attendance, and others try to tweak what they've been doing to recapture some of the glory days of youth ministry (most of which took place in the late 80's and 90's). The problem is, those days aren't coming back. The youth culture is different today. We have to be savvy about what issues today's teens are facing, and their views on issues of faith and how their culture is influencing them. Modern, Post-Modern - call it what you will, the old 'big event' style of youth ministry is losing its effectiveness. Maybe it's a good thing, because honestly the results of those youth ministries has generally been disappointing.

Maybe it's time to re-imagine what it looks like for teens to live out the kingdom of God. Maybe it's time for people to take priority over programs. Nobody says that they use people to build their programs, but I think if you take an objective look at churches and youth groups it's pretty obvious that most things are done for the sake of the program.

I am not anti-program, as long as the programs are fluid and designed solely for the purpose of serving people, not the other way around. The old measuring stick of, "how many youth are in your group?" needs to be replaced with "how can we work together for the kingdom of God in our community?"

I feel that I'm at the very beginning of this journey, and I have so much more to learn. But, something is different and I can't go back to the old style of ministry. I can't in good conscience try to build my own empire (though having my own Death Star would be pretty cool). Anything less than truly making disciples - not just converts and numbers added to the group - is not what Jesus commanded us to do.

Jesus Vs. Christians

a really powerful set of interviews with people from Chicago about what they think of Jesus and Christians. I saw this on Dan Kimball's blog: dankimball.com

spider-man 3

Last night we went to see Spider-Man 3. It was a good movie - not quite as good as the second, but still a lot of fun. They probably tried to do too much with the story line, and in doing so they didn't have a chance to develop the characters as much as they did in the previous films.

One of the things I have loved about the Spider-Man movies is the fantastic moral message that each of them has. "With great power comes great responsibility", etc. This film continues in that vein with the theme of choices - we are who we choose to be, and in a really cool twist at the end, forgiveness trumps all.

The action scenes are bigger, and the villains are more spectacular - a good movie by any standards. So I was pleased with the movie. It stayed somewhat true to the comic books, and was a lot of fun. I just wish they hadn't tried to do so much with it. It goes by like a rollercoaster and you walk out having had a fun experience, but it went too fast to take it all in.

tomorrow's the big day

well, i'm going to have a hard time sleeping tonight. tomorrow is the big day when spider-man 3 comes out. i thought about going to a midnight showing tonight, but erica said she couldn't pull off watching a 2 1/2 hour movie that late.

we did go and see the final star wars movie at the midnight showing, which was the most fun i've ever had in a movie theatre. tons of people were dressed up as various characters and random light sabre fights broke out in the hallways... often between people that didn't even know each other. i must say that it was probably one of the most communal experiences i've ever had (and i'm not even that big of a fan of star wars).

i think church should be more of a 'together' experience than a star wars movie, but i have rarely experienced anything close to that in the christian circles i've been in. these are things i'll probably have to think more deeply on later, but for now i'm brimming with excitement about the movie i've been anticipating for what seems like ages. i don't know what it is about me and super heroes (spider-man being my all time favorite), but it definitely causes some part of me to come to life.

i already got tickets - we're going to a 7 p.m. showing.

one view of heaven...

Today I saw perhaps the weirdest video clip I have ever seen. I think parts of it come off as more of a time-share commercial than an evangelistic tool. I had to watch it a few times just to see if these people are for real. Keep an eye on the kid's face at 2:50. His face says it all - there really aren't words for this.

Here is a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1paYhEDFQIw