It's been a rather thematic day. All about church.
Just finished reading "Pagan Christianity", by Barna and Viola. It's a study of the roots and origins of all we do on a typical Sunday morning and how the modern 'church' is structured. For someone like me, having been on that particular journey for some time now, it filled in the blanks on a lot of things and answered some questions. For someone who is quite happy with the Sunday morning status quo, it would probably make them angry. Some, very angry. Seems almost everything about the contemporary western church stems from between 400 and 1800 AD. Practically nothing we do now would be recognizable to the original "Followers of the Way", whose gatherings were completely unstructured and unled. Sanctified anarchy.
At Dinner tonight I had a brief talk with a couple of regulars about our decision to pull back Sunday mornings to once a month, holding it in conjunction with Breakfast. That's a hard decision for me. The Motel's been my Sunday morning for nearly two years. It's been spotty and weird and pointless and wonderful, but so freakin' real... so now I have to decide what to do with the other 3 Sundays in every month. It's actually difficult to think about going back to a more typical service. Right now, I'm really not looking forward to it at all. Maybe just because I've been away for so long. I've noticed that, on the rare occasions I sit through a service, it's becoming harder and harder to do and I'm less and less enthusiastic about the programmed gathering. I miss the chaos and the goofiness and the vulnerability of letting anything happen that happens.
This was aggravated by another talk at Dinner, this time with a couple of new friends. They've only lived in town for a year or so and have been attending a church, but they seem interested in getting involved with GTI. A nice family, with some history of planting house churches and seeing the Spirit move, and recognizing the changes that are going on in the Church, as so many of us do. But the conversation got around to GTI 'church' and I found myself explaining our reasons for cutting back. And I felt bad saying it. Even though I know it's necessary and the reasons are good reasons, it's like telling your kid he can't go to a party because he has to do his homework. I felt like I was talking too fast or over-explaining. I don't know. It's tough.
But waiting has so often been mixed up with growth. Breakfast has a vibe all its own. Different from Dinner, different from 'church'. The stories seem to strike the right note and there's lots of opportunity for people to stay afterwards and have long conversations or go for a walk. We can sing if we want, pray if we want. Play euchre. Whatever.
So we'll see what happens as we pursue Breakfast. It's been its own funny little miracle. Maybe Church, like life, will "find a way".
r
Just finished reading "Pagan Christianity", by Barna and Viola. It's a study of the roots and origins of all we do on a typical Sunday morning and how the modern 'church' is structured. For someone like me, having been on that particular journey for some time now, it filled in the blanks on a lot of things and answered some questions. For someone who is quite happy with the Sunday morning status quo, it would probably make them angry. Some, very angry. Seems almost everything about the contemporary western church stems from between 400 and 1800 AD. Practically nothing we do now would be recognizable to the original "Followers of the Way", whose gatherings were completely unstructured and unled. Sanctified anarchy.
At Dinner tonight I had a brief talk with a couple of regulars about our decision to pull back Sunday mornings to once a month, holding it in conjunction with Breakfast. That's a hard decision for me. The Motel's been my Sunday morning for nearly two years. It's been spotty and weird and pointless and wonderful, but so freakin' real... so now I have to decide what to do with the other 3 Sundays in every month. It's actually difficult to think about going back to a more typical service. Right now, I'm really not looking forward to it at all. Maybe just because I've been away for so long. I've noticed that, on the rare occasions I sit through a service, it's becoming harder and harder to do and I'm less and less enthusiastic about the programmed gathering. I miss the chaos and the goofiness and the vulnerability of letting anything happen that happens.
This was aggravated by another talk at Dinner, this time with a couple of new friends. They've only lived in town for a year or so and have been attending a church, but they seem interested in getting involved with GTI. A nice family, with some history of planting house churches and seeing the Spirit move, and recognizing the changes that are going on in the Church, as so many of us do. But the conversation got around to GTI 'church' and I found myself explaining our reasons for cutting back. And I felt bad saying it. Even though I know it's necessary and the reasons are good reasons, it's like telling your kid he can't go to a party because he has to do his homework. I felt like I was talking too fast or over-explaining. I don't know. It's tough.
But waiting has so often been mixed up with growth. Breakfast has a vibe all its own. Different from Dinner, different from 'church'. The stories seem to strike the right note and there's lots of opportunity for people to stay afterwards and have long conversations or go for a walk. We can sing if we want, pray if we want. Play euchre. Whatever.
So we'll see what happens as we pursue Breakfast. It's been its own funny little miracle. Maybe Church, like life, will "find a way".
r
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