Paradoxology

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                           Welcome to paradoxology

                                 the official blog of desertpastor.com.  

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Are We Too Sophisticated for Weekly Communion?

Are we too sophisticated for weekly communion?  By "sophisticated", I mean, are we fully committed to casting aside the overwhelming tradition of the Church-through-the-ages in favor of our own higher thinking, our own clever reasoning?  A reasoning that asserts, "If we take communion every week, it will become cheap, ordinary, mundane, and meaningless. 

Is our sophisticated reasoning really a better way to go?  Is such sophistication honestly to be preferred over having an attitude of humility that acknowledges something may be wrong in us ? That our own fallen, sinful, selfish heart may be getting in the way and messing-up our ability to commune with Christ through the elements of bread and wine no matter how frequent that might be?  Is is possible that our own sophistication and clever reasoning is keeping us from pondering this matter at a deeper level, and in a way that would compel us to take communion as often as possible without lessening its mystery or power?

Now, before you "we-take-communion-once-a-month" folks lay into me, let me say up front that I've come to a place in my journey where I see the oft-cited "cheapening" rationale behind the taking of monthly communion as a straw-man defense -- an accommodation to our human weakness rather than an appeal to either the scriptures or the historical consensus of the church-through-history, and therefore more shameful than defendable or honorable.

If you attend a church whose tradition is to only take Communion occasionally, I am certainly not encouraging any sort of dissonance or rebellion.  Rather, I am opening the door for thoughtful contemplation and dialog.

In my own tradition, John Wesley encouraged that Holy Communion be taken as often as possible.  Since the Eucharist is a sacrament and a "means of grace", why would I ever want to receive it less frequently?

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Photo credit: © Andrew Penner, iStockphoto.com

What are YOU Trying to Change?

I've been thinking again about something Shane Claiborne wrote a couple years ago:

New prophets are rising up who try to change the future, not just predict it.  There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of (The Irresistible Revolution, p. 24).

If you see yourself as one of these "new prophets", or as part of the movement that moves beyond cynicism and is committed to pioneering change in the Church, then "fess-up" and tell us what YOU are committed to changing.

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Photo credit: © Chad Anderson, iStockphoto.com

3rd Annual AEF Conference

OH YEAH!!!  The countdown has begun and the anticipation already mounting for this year's Ancient Evangelical Future Conference.

The conference, hosted by the Robert E. Webber Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future, will be held once again at Northern Seminary's Linder Conference Center (NICE!) in Lombard, Illinois (greater Chicago area).

The AEF Conferences are an outflow of The Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future -- the pioneering work of Dr. Robert E. Webber (1933-2007) and others, that bring together an amazing diversity of theologians, biblical scholars, church practitioners and lay people -- all interested in how the Church's past should inform and shape her future.  Part of what I really like about the AEF Conferences is how they're filled with people with such a wide spectrum of backgrounds. Progressive traditionalists, emerging church practitioners, mainliners, fundamentalist lookie-loos, and many more.

So, come on, now!  Drop all your past excuses and make it a priority to attend this year's Ancient Evangelical Future Conference.  Come join the conversation, and experience for yourself how the Church's path in the future runs through the past.

Keeping It On My Radar: Christianity's Center Moves South

Ever since I read Philip Jenkins' "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity", and Padilla and Scott's "Terrorism and the War in Iraq: A Christian Word From Latin America,"  I found myself especially drawn toward anything in the media related to Christianity's "center" shifting from Northern to Southern hemispheres, as well as giving ear to what Christian leaders from the "South" are saying... about our faith, about the future, and about the "North."

I quickly came to realize that my brothers and sisters in the South possessed a unique perspective and ethical authority for addressing, lets' say, the woes of mainstream American Christianity, in a way that stings and awakens us to our dangerous predicament (e.g. runaway consumerism, subtle arrogance).

As the months have whizzed by, however, I've noticed how quickly the North-to-South phenomenon has seemed to drop from view.  But why?  Is it simply because we "Northerners" are unconsciously insulating ourselves from the critiques and pleas (and sometimes the rebukes) our Southern brethren are sending our way?  Is it because we are far more bigoted than we dare admit, allowing our angst over illegal immigration or some other "legitimate" issue divert our attention from our own failures?

Are any "voices" from Christianity's Southern hemisphere still managing to break through?  Is anyone out there still listening?

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Photo credit: © iStockphoto.com

Imposing Our Prayers on Others

Prayer is powerful.  Prayer is effective.  Prayer is good.

Furthermore: Prayer is a privilege. Prayer is a responsibility. 

But is prayer always our right?  More specifically, do we always have the right to pray for people -- on-the-spot, out loud and in public, let's say -- whether or not we've asked or gotten their permission?

Is there a point where, if we impose on others our choice to pray for them "right then and there", that we risk offending rather than blessing them; that we risk the fostering of distrust rather than engendering trust?

Do you make it your practice to take charge and pray for people whether or not they are willing participants?  If so, why? Or have you ever been the "other" person, who felt uncomfortable when someone seemingly forced you into praying with them (although they may have ended up doing all the praying anyway)? If so, what was that like?

My personal practice is to always ask someone if I can pray for them, unless the nature of my relationship to them is such that mutual prayer is expected (e.g. mentoring relationships).  However, this is a topic that has always held my interest, and as I've watched others pray for people over the years, I believe it's a topic worthy of our thoughtful evaluation.

So what are your thoughts?

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Photo credit: © iStockphoto.com