July 13, 2012 I'm bored!!

II Timothy 1:5-6 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands.

and 3: 16-17: All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

In the book Speaking of Sin by Barbara Brown Taylor, she says :"One characteristic of post modernism is distrust of old institutions that have let people down. As I was thinking this through, the phrase "I'm bored" came to mind. Kids in the old institution of church have grown bored with and distrustful of church because of a couple of things, I think.

One, we entertain them until they are in high school, and then we expect them to jump into the version of church we have for old people, the one where you mostly sit and watch. Sooner or later, you get tired of just listening to an endless stream of words. Now I must say this is not true of all churches, but I do think it is true of too many.

Then, they are bored because we fail to help them make the link between Bible stories and theology with real life...so of course they are bored. They have heard all the stories and too much dry theology.  Church and the Bible are boring because we have sucked the life out of them. We preach at them, but fail to let them ask questions, without embarrassing them because they do have a question. Theology should be living, a guide for practice - a manual for life. Again, I know that all churches are not like this, but too many are.

I wonder if we don't need to stop blaming things on postmodernism and start listening with discerning ears to see what truth there might be. God did not mean for His followers to sit in rows and listen and then go do their thing. I think He meant for them to listen and then figure out, by talking about what they have heard, what being a Christ-follower looks like today - in this culture. There's nothing like interaction to keep you from being bored.

If you only lecture, it is tough for your listeners to make the transition to application. God did not mean for us to do the Christian life alone. We are to do it in the context of a loving and interested community - interested enough to allow for discussion, for failures, for growth, but most interested in loving others like God loved us first.

Just thinking!!!