Public Jesus (Chapter One)

Last week I mentioned that every year our church does something called The Blitz. This year were using Public Jesus by Tim Suttle. In hopes of priming the pump for this conversation, I thought I might post a few thoughts and questions from the book.

Chapter one of Public Jesus is called, "To be a Human Being in the World." Here we encounter several things:

(1) Being born and becoming conscious of a world that was here before we were.
(2) The Christian version, or story, about how we got here and why, specifically related to the book of Genesis and person of Jesus as it relates to the creation and redemption of the world.
(3) Being salt and light, which is about the public nature of Christianity.

At one point near the end of chapter Tim says, "The church is the way God is now physically present to the world."

I'm curious how this sounds to North American Protestant Evangelicals (or NAPEs as I like to call them, of which I am one) who are typically prone to view God as utterly accessible: We have a personal relationship with Jesus, God hears every single one of our prays AND answers them, and speaks to us in the process with an uncanny kind of clarity. NAPEs lean into the utterly accessible (and often times instant) side of God's relationship with the world.

It tends to be that NAPEs overplay the instant and accessible card to the detriment of a more robust ecclesiology that speaks of God being present to the world through the church. I think there's a good conversation waiting to be had here about what it means to say, to put it another way (a la Steve McCormick and the Orthodox tradition), that the church is God's new epiphany in the world, i.e. that the church is the new way through whom God is primarily related to the world. For most NAPEs we want to recapture a more robust ecclesiology BUT, I think, not without losing the sense that God has not limited the way He is present to the world. In other words, can we not also say that God does in fact move redemptively outside of the church as well?

What do you think?

Public Jesus

Every year our church does something called The Blitz. The idea is that if you want to tackle the quarter back, you call for a blitz. Substitute quarterback with community and you get The Blitz. Every year we try to tackle community. Pretty simple (it’s a metaphor). Each year we intentionally sync up around some kind of teaching/practice. That's the gist.

This year we're using Public Jesus by TimSuttle. (By the way, if you haven’t already checked out some of the stuff that The House Studio is putting out, you should. It’s great for small groups and it features people such as Stanley Hauerwas and Walter Brueggemann, people who have been extremely influential in my own development.)

Tim is a good friend and pastor of Redemption Church here in Olathe, KS. I’m excited to dig into this book with the rest of the Redemption Church people. And maybe others, if you all want to participate. I’m sure it will provoke many thoughts and questions that will challenge our assumptions about what it means to confess that Jesus is Lord.

In the introduction we get a little taste of what to expect:

- “What role should our faith play in public life?”

- What does it mean to say “the public square belongs to God”?

- “What would the world be like if God were in charge?”

- How does a theology of creation inform this?

- Why is Jesus good news?

- What is the mission of God?

- Why are secularism and fundamentalism the most common ditches people fall in to?

Perhaps it could be said that the heart of Public Jesus is a “[wrestling] with all kinds of questions about what it would mean for us to live our lives as though we believe Jesus is Lord of all” (16).

Over the next few weeks, I hope to prime the pump a bit by noting some of what’s in store for us here.

Here's a quote:

"Living in the way of Jesus cannot be merely a personal, private thing because faith is meant to impact every aspect of life. God cares about all of life. I cannot check my faith at the door when I go into the supermarket, drive my car, pay my taxes, give to a charity, volunteer, cash my paycheck, or vote. Everything I do in my life - be it private or public - is meant to be informed by my most basic identity: I am a follower  of Jesus Christ, a Christian. When I live in faithfulness to Jesus as I navigate public space, I believe that I am participating in the deep and seminal reality that God is trying to bring right order to the world. My faith in Jesus must impact all that I say and do when I inhabit public space."

Also, check out one of the videos here.

Around the Horn

There's an ebb and flow to everything, blogging included, or perhaps especially. Here's this weeks Around the Horn. I hope it sends you down many wonderful paths.

Rob Bell released a new video.

Tim Suttle's book, Public Jesus, got a review.

Neil Gaiman is going to write another Sandman graphic novel!

Bo Sanders offers an Evangelical Support for Same-Sex Marriage.

Scot McKnight talks about Jesus (via Resurrected Living). And posted a good story about a boy named Joshua doing good things in his neighborhood.

The top 500 most visited websites.

Thumbtack Russian Roulette. Seriously, this is funny. I don't usually pass around things like this, but it's really funny. DON'T try this at home!

(Image)

Speaking "Christian" during an election year

My friend Tim wrote an article for Sojourners based on his new book (with DVD) called Public Jesus.

It's worth a read, especially if you're either Christian or an American (maybe even both at the same time) and if you're tired of the same old Liberal vs. Conservative, Republican vs. Democrat split.

Around the Horn: Friends w/ Books!

This weeks "Around the Horn" is geared towards friends who wrote books that are coming out soon.

Public Jesus: Exposing the Nature of God in Your Community by Tim Suttle. Check out one of the accompanying videos. Here's the description:

Religion is personal and private. 

Many people are raised to believe religion is personal and private and should be left out of public life. But even if we wanted to follow the dictum “religion is personal and private,” doing so would be impossible. God is out and about in cultures and societies, working in every corner of creation to bring about God’s good purposes. God belongs in the public square because the public square belongs to God.

Yet, what it means to say that God belongs in public life is far from clear. Is it the street preacher shouting on the corner about the coming judgment? Is it backing Christian candidates for public office? Is it relief efforts, fundraising, Christian music, books, and concerts? What if the answer is as varied as the number of humans on the planet? What if the way God is present in public life is through you and me?

Answering these questions will require great imagination and ingenuity. It will require much more from all of us than we will be comfortable giving. It will require that we embrace Jesus’s call to take up our cross and follow him. Ranging from vocation to politics, Public Jesus invites us to wrestle with all kinds of questions about what it means for us to live our faith in public and what role we play in embodying the coming kingdom.

A Seat at the Table: A Generation Reimaginng Its Place in the Church by Shawna Songer Gaines and Timothy R. Gaines. Here's the description:

Why are so many 20- and 30-something Christians disappearing from the church? 

They are told how much the church wants young people, yet there is growing suspicion among young believers about who is in and who is out of the scope of Christian orthodoxy. Through this suspicion, a rift between the generations has emerged. In the face of frustration, of being cut out because they don t seem to fit, young believers often take their gifts and leave the church.

This book helps those who feel displaced by this generational collision to find a sense of place and welcome with a church that is still becoming all that God wants it to be.

If you are a young person who wonders if there is a place in the church for someone like you, or if you want to know if your own church can be the kind of body in which young people are welcome, A Seat at the Table will give you a new personal and kingdom perspective. Embrace the challenge to re-imagine your relationship with the church in light of this generational collision, not seeing it as an unredeemable rift, but as an opportunity to give and receive hospitality.

Whirlybirds and Ordinary Times: Reflections on Faith and the Changing of Seasons by Katie Savage. Okay, so as my wife she's more than a "friend" to me, but we're still friendly with each other :)  There's no official description for this one yet, but it's a collection of essays loosely based on a seasons of the church year.

If there are others of you, my friends, who have a book coming out soon and you are not here, you should be. It's either because I forgot, or don't know about it. So, tell me (again)!