Sad, but Sadly Not Surprised

  I was sitting in my office yesterday, arranging music for Sunday when I heard about the shooting in Connecticut; when I came home my wife informed me of the stabbing in China. Earlier this week the Eugene Register Guard ran the following headline "Horror in Clackamas" in regards to a shooting in a Portland area shopping center. Thinking about it now I can't help but notice that the one thing lacking in my response to these events was surprise. I don't think I've been desensitized by television, or video games, nor am I apathetic to the suffering of these people. So that being the case, why am I not surprised about gunmen opening fire in Colorado movie theatres, or Portland shopping centers.

  I am not surprised at these things because the Church in America has, by and large, ceased to talk of things like sin, and redemption. In our attempts to "live in peace with our neighbor" we have denied them the promise of the Gospel by not showing them their need for Jesus Christ. In our culture of indulgence we have denied the truth of Scripture by avoiding passages and texts that confront our social and cultural understandings of faith, and morality. In short, we have left the religion of Jesus, and pursued the religion of Self. I think this has happened in two major, and vary insidious ways.

 We, instead of looking into the moral implication of our faith, have been tickled and drawn after causes of social justice, and matters of economical equality. Rather than speaking of the crucifixion, resurrection  and ascension of Jesus Christ we banter over wells in Africa, or low cost huts for the American Homeless. Don't get me wrong, the Church ought to be concerned with these things. But, they are a means to an end. Not an end in and of themselves

  On the other hand, when we do tend to speak of sin we do so in some pretty interesting ways. We're quick to speak of cultural sins, but we balk and defend ourselves when confronted with our own issues. Rather than engaging our neighbors with the promise of the Gospel many of us have retreated. Taking a faith that is durable, and meant to be used and wrapping it in bubble wrap and cellophane to protect it from outside corruption. We have retreated into blind political allegiances, into home schooling, into self-gratifying displays of the Pentecostal gifts, into theological obfuscations of a simple Gospel, into denominational pissing matches, and the prosperity Gospel. When it comes down to the brass tacks of our faith (our sin and deliverance in Jesus Christ) we would rather stay silent and give somebody a latte with a pretty design in it. We would rather extol the benefits of classical education. We would rather hand out a bowl of soup; warming a stomach, and ignoring hearts full of sin and shame.

  These horrifying events have happened because we (you, and I...the Church) have used these things to avoid our own sin. While we sit back, bemoaning the sinful state of our culture, Jesus sits before the Father bemoaning our sin, and interceding for our reconciliation. God is near to the lowly, and contrite of heart because they acknowledge their need for him. It is tempting to swiftly condemn these individuals, and their actions without seeing their reflection in us, and our reflection in them. But that is no solution.

[23] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. [24] You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

[25] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

[26] You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

(Matthew 23:23-26 ESV)

Well, fall is officially here. It's not because the foliage is turning brilliant shades of red and yellow, nor is it due to that familiar crisp turn in the morning air. I can tell fall is here because I am insanely busy! RCF starts up again on Tuesday night and I have to say that I am quite excited for this year's group and what will occur at the UO because of it, and my plan for this year's teaching seems quite apropos. All of this year's RCF teaching will echo this refrain: "Why are you a Christian?" and "How would the people around you know you're a Christian?"

We'll be starting the year off reviewing 4 fundamental truths about Christianity
  1. The Inspiration, and Authority of Scripture.
      With this subject we'll look at some passages out of 2nd. Timothy, and Peter's letters to examine if our  
       is truly biblical in it's nature, or if we negotiate with the Word...embracing what makes us feel good, and
       denying those things that challenge our complacency.

  2. God's Plan, and means of Salvation
      If we truly believe that we receive our faith through the grace of Jesus Christ, how does that effect our
      attitudes towards the world, and our own merit?

  3.The Church, and God's plan for worship
     I have this hunch...that God ordained the church to grant believers a designated space in time where they
     relate to God rightly through his word and sacraments. That being so, believers sealed in the Holy Spirit
     ought to have an increasing affection and desire for organized worship with the saints. I also suspect that
     the Church's role in the the world is analogous to the Holy Spirit's role in the lives of individual believers.

  4. How to live with Christian Integrity
      All believers should be engaged in the redemptive pursuit of all those around them. Because God is our
      Creator, his word applies universally to all people, at all times, and in all places. That being the case we
      should not be ashamed, or afraid to call people to apply God's truth to their lives in whatever way we
      can.

After those four teachings RCF will be studying the book of Jonah to see how God's grace extends past the boundaries we expect him to establish.

So, that's the plan. Please pray for me as I study and preach the word on the campus of the University of Oregon. That I would be faithfully repentant of my error, and leading RCF in a like manner. Also please be praying for Becky and I as we tackle a whole lot of stuff at once. Becky is doing a medical transcription program online while working from home. I wont go into everything, but just say that we're busy! Please pray for our marriage and communication as we endeavor to be faithful in the areas that God has called us to serve.

~Matt, Becky, and Scout
   

A brief update

Hi everybody,

   This is just a brief little snapshot of our rather busy lives. Case in  point, the picture above was taken at Easter....and I'm just now using it. RCF is officially "out of session" but we are about to meet and discuss C.S Lewis's "The Great Divorce" here pretty soon. I know one major thing that stood out to me on this latest reading of that book was the disposition of the people in the bus queue, and on the bus. If we look at the church as a vehicle that leads to Glory, the first few chapters are very humiliating for us (or they were for me at least). Considering the backbiting, gossip, and power plays I've found myself wonder where I've contributed to such an illustration. Ultimately I think I was surprised by my surprise. The Church is a community of broken people working out their salvation (and some who aren't working it out). That being the case it's no wonder there are factions, and strife. Let's just thank God that Christ is our Head, and that his plan for us will never be thwarted!

  Personal updates:
     The Perrets are heading back to Louisiana, which leaves me to sort out Sunday morning worship. So please be praying for Becky and I as we pursue that aspect of leadership. We're sad to see our friends move on, but excited to hear about what God has planned for them.

  School is in the works, although I feel like I'm going down the rabbit hole to get there. LCC is not very forthcoming about how to apply to classes....which makes me frustrated. But on a good note; after working at the Red Barn for three months I've been promoted! In about two weeks I'll be taking over management of the Deli and coffee bar.
   Busy, busy, busy!

~Matt

So, elephant in the room. It's been ages since a lot of you have heard from me. Rest assured, Becky, Scout and I are all well (although Scout gets a little emotional from time to time). Many of you have probably already heard that I starting working a part-time job on top of doing RCF. The Red Barn is a great place to work, and I'm already starting to settle in and see the Gospel effect my co-workers. On that note, I have a greater appreciation for what zoo animals endure every day. The first two weeks of my job there felt a little like a "pick the conservative Protestant's brain" session. But, I made it through, and retained my job...which is obviously a bonus!
  So, we've been trucking through 1st. John in RCF this quarter, which I must say has been incredible. I owe a lot of observations to Martyn Lloyd Jones..(his commentary series is called "Life in Christ"). It's a lot of work to read but well worth the time. The one thing that has stood out above everything else has been John's fundamental concept of the Gospel. Most of us, if asked what the Gospel was about, would likely speak of eternal life, justification by faith, Reformed theology buffs would no doubt extol the virtues of Christs expiating sacrifice on Calvary...with a dash of chatter regarding the active, and passive obedience of Jesus. John brushes all that aside. According to John. The Gospel is about having fellowship with God....now. Bearing that in mind, our Christian life no longer falls into academic or hypothetical elements regarding some sort of cold doctrine, or theological treatise. It shifts the premise to a more relational position. Everything from what we do with our day, how we think about our neighbors, to how we engage in politics becomes wrapped in that greater theme of preserving, and enjoying our fellowship with the Father.

1 John 1:1-4

    One of the most compelling feature of John's first epistle is his complete lack of any identification in his introduction. What's interesting about it is that John, doesn't really seem able to contain himself throughout his first letter at all. It reads a lot like Mark's Gospel, or Ephesians chapter one. An overwhelming abundance of good things spilling out over the page. What John does say by way of introduction is a brief, albeit abstract, proclamation of the Gospel concerning the Word of Life. In verse one we see that Jesus Christ was infinite "That which was from the beginning", that Jesus was declared in the Old Testament, and experienced in the world "which we have heard, which we have seen, John then goes on to mention that the 12 Apostles had a unique experience with Jesus. Everybody around Jesus at the time saw him, and heard him physically. But John says that they not only saw him but they also looked up him. That is to say, they saw him as he truly was. One thinks of the transfiguration, Isaiah's vision and calling, Peter's experience in the boat, or the revelation of Thomas while he felt the wounds of the risen Christ.
    John doesn't even leave it at that he goes on to say that Jesus was made manifest, which is to say that he took on a specific, identifiable form, and that the 12 were able to touch him. Jesus was no floating ethereal spirit. He became a man of flesh, and blood. Now, he didn't become manifest idly. He came with the expressed purpose of restoring fellowship between God, and his people. Now, what's really interesting about this fellowship is the language that John uses to describe it. First off, he always uses plural pronouns...we, our, us. What we can take away then is that John is not referring to some sort of "me and Jesus" experience, but a verifiable event that he, and the rest of the church stand behind. Nor is his mention of fellowship some sort of nebulous, pie in the sky thing to consider abstractly. It is fellowship with the church, as the church has fellowship with God. It's concrete, and visceral. It's palpable.
     Becky and I went to a Wilco concert a few months ago, and because I'm a true music lover, I am still sitting happily in the afterglow of it.....because it was awesome. The band had their sound engineered very deliberately. It was poised right at the edge, leaning over as far as it possibly could before causing feedback. I literally felt the air being displaced by the sound coming out of their stage setup. I've never experienced anything like it. The sound coming off of that stage was palpable....it had a dimension, and texture, a dynamic force behind it. That's the kind of fellowship that John is talking about, the sort that has an empirical dimension. The sort that people notice when they're around it, that's the ethos behind the first 4 verses of 1 John.....great joy derived from palpable fellowship with God. What an amazing thing!
     But we would be remiss if we were just excited by this passage and not challenged by it. Here, John tells us, we can have the same fellowship with God that he had. Even more wonderful, that because of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection we are caught up into the fellowship within the trinity. So, what we have got to ask ourselves is this: "If our fellowship with God can be the same as that of the Apostles.....is it?" Would people say that your faith, your Christianity is palpable?

A quick update

Hey All,


  Just dropping a little note off to assure you all that I still have a pulse, and draw breath. Life is good, but quite busy right now. Newsletters are a work in progress, as is Doulos '12, and the RYM Pacific Northwest Summer Conference.
The quarter went quite well as far as RCF is concerned. We're actually wrapping up the Sermon on the Mount tomorrow night at our Bible study, and moving on to John's epistles for next quarter. Please be praying for Becky and I as we continue to be in communication with Oregon churches for support. Becky specifically, as she grows her etsy shop, and does transcription work. Pray for me as I study 1-3 John and try to fit his round letters into a square outline, I'm also still applying for a lot of part time jobs, and working on the whole University entrance thing. Pray for us as parents, that we would continue to support each other, and remain on the same page. Caedence is doing great, but the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree.....meaning that she's cute (Becky's genes), but crazy (my genes).

Thanks!

Life Post-Sunday

Rather than thinking of the church as a place where our hearts are filled to compensate for the spiritual deficit of the preceding week, we should strive to see it as a point of origin. A place, and community from which we are actually over-filled with the intention that the life of Christ in the Gospel would spill out of us onto the lives of people we see and converse with throughout the week.

If the church were not meant to be an advancing institution Jesus would not have said "Upon this rock [which is faith...not Peter] will I build my church, and the gates of Hell will not withstand it."

Avoiding V-Day Massacres

I had a very odd, and bad habit of hooking up with girls in the weeks that led up to Valentine's Day. Not because I was a romantic sap, but more because I was a dumb high school dude, that couldn't really think beyond the calender square I currently occupied. Knowing that I would never escape my boyfriend obligations of boxed chocolates, and teddy bears I grudgingly gave into the ceremony of it all. What I wouldn't give to go back in time, and smack myself upside the head. Advising cold showers for the next weeks until February 14^th was safely passed. Here is what I discovered through my mistakes: what was at first an cautious peek into the realm of committed dating suddenly was blown up into a full on committed relationship. We can laugh at it on one hand, but don't underestimate the significance of 4 bucks worth of carnations, and some candy can have on a relationship.

In hindsight I often wondered what would have happened if I had waited until March, and just tried to get to know the girl I was into better in the interim. Would we ever have dated, or would she have looked at the trench-coat (yeah...I was that kid), heard The Smashing Pumpkins, and walked away knowing that we really didn't have much in common at all? Maybe. I know how it did end, about four years later after a very awkward day in Berkeley California, when we sat down and watched “The Life Aquatic”. Something snapped in our minds and we realized that we couldn't get things to work out, because there was nothing to work with. Let me tell you, it was flippin painful. The memory of that night sullied that movie for years. So how did things get so bad that I was unable to enjoy a solid Bill Murray performance?

What happened at that moment can best be defined as emotional synergism. Feb. 14^th blew up like a spark landing in gasoline. The shot heard around the world if you will..... KA-FREAKIN-BOOM - an ill-conceived high school dating relationship messed us both up for years. Here's why. Each of us, in our own way, had an image of relationships being all about hand-holding, snuggling, and making out. We pretty much used each other to feel good about ourselves. And, because neither of us knew what we were looking for in a relationship it was all about “that other person digging me”. That mutual attraction seemed good enough. Long story short, we did find some common grounds, we both knew it wasn't going to work out, and now we're both happily married.....to other people.

I'm writing this to tell you to be cool, like the Fonz this Valentine's Day. Take a breather and get to know the people you're hot for before diving headlong into a relationship...or into the sack, and then into a relationship (which was more my style back in the day). I'm going to opt for the “advise-focused” ending rather than the “cheesy-metaphor” conclusion.

Dudes: If you're into somebody, this is your chance. Your chance to buy them dinner, see a movie, and respectfully walk them to their front door and leave after the night is through. Again...Be Cool!!! Mind you...a date is not hanging out in your dorm watching a movie, it's an event that requires you to wear something classier than yesterday's sweatpants, and to go somewhere with real plates where the food costs money. Open her doors for her, and pay the freaking bill.

Ladies:As a dude I can say that subtlety is not our strong point so saying “no” to us is kind of like talking to a 5 year old. Hinting ain't gonna do it. But, though stupid at times...we are sensitive. If a guy you don't like asks you out, it isn't creepy. It ought to be flattering, be clear but gentle and let the dude down easy.

Happy Valentine's Day...Be cool.

This is why RCF exists!

I don't normally cite other writer's work on this blog, but Ms. Powell states the necessity for RCF so clearly that I couldn't resist. Please read the following article.  ~Matt 

Why Young Adults are Leaving the Church

Kara Powell

The reasons 20somethings are giving up on Sunday morning

What does it say about our generation that 40 to 50 percent of young Christians fail to stick with their faith or connect with a church after high school? Most likely, you’ve experienced or been witness to this exodus of twentysomethings from the faith community. At this point, it’s not even surprising to watch young adults become disillusioned with church as they go to college, build a career, start a family or begin their “real life”. But can it be stopped?

We recently spoke to Kara Powell, executive director of Fuller Youth Institute and co-author of Sticky Faith, to answer just that. Drawing from her extensive research with Fuller Youth Institute, she gave us a little more insight into what it takes to find a faith that sticks.

Do you think young people are just leaving the church, or leaving faith? Or is it both?

Probably my best answer to that is to describe what Tim Clydesdale—who is a sociologist in New Jersey—refers to as “the identity lock-box.” What students tend to do after they’ve graduated from high school is place important parts of themselves in an identity lock-box, and their faith is often part of that. The good news is that you put something in a lock-box when it’s important to you. So there is some sense that students still value their faith at one level. But the problem is when your faith is in a lock-box, especially as a college student or emerging adult, you’re making so many important decisions about worldview, and marriage, how you engage in risk behaviors, and vocation, and calling, and all those considerations are made while your faith is locked up in that lock-box. So there is some sort of residual sense that students value the faith, but it’s not influencing their day-to-day, or even major decisions. Given the long-term impact of those decisions throughout their adulthood, it’s pretty disconcerting.

Do you think there are any misunderstandings or misconceptions that contribute to young adults leaving the church?

The students involved in our research definitely tended to view the Gospel as a list of dos and do-nots, a list of behaviors. We asked our students when they were college juniors, “How would you define what it really means to be a Christian?” and one out of three—and these were all youth group students—didn’t mention Jesus Christ in their answer; they mentioned behaviors. So it seems like [young adults] have really picked up a behavioralist view of the Gospel. That’s problematic for a lot of reasons, but one of which is that when students fail to live up to those behaviors, then they end up running from God and the Church when they need both the most.

Are these mindsets limited only to young adults, or does it affect all ages?

Oh, yes, absolutely, [they] aren’t making this up on their own. They’re getting this from adults. Another issue that is particularly relevant to church leaders across the board is the importance of intergenerational relationships. We looked at 13 different youth group participation variables in our study, things they did in the context of youth group, to try and see what would be the biggest levers for sticky faith. To our surprise, the participation variable most highly related to mature faith both in high school and college was intergenerational worship; helping them connect with adults of all ages is a vital part of building adult faith. What we’re seeing is that not only are [intergenerational relationships] transformative in the lives of the teenagers, but they make a difference in the overall church. Imagine what a church would be like, what the adults in church would be like, if they were infused with the vitality that comes with teenagers? At the very least, if they were getting to know a few teenagers by name so they could pray for them, how life-giving would that be for the adults in a church?

What is an ideal model for the relationship between different generations in the faith community?

The original churches in the first century were multi-generational, were multi-ethnic. Especially as youth ministries become more professionalized in the last 50 years, [we’ve] ended up segregating kids from the rest of the church. Having said that, there’s definitely a time for 6-year-olds, and 16-year-olds and 86-year-olds to be together on their own. We need to provide space for folks in similar life spaces to chat and share community, but balance is something we swing through on our way to the other extreme.

It’s a common story: Young adults stop going to church, then once they have kids they return. It’s not like that’s a new phenomenon. Do you think this generation is different—or will they return to church again in a few years when they start having kids?

About 50 percent of those who drift from church seem to return, and it’s often because when they get older they get married and have kids. We at the Fuller Youth Institute are still grieving over the 50 percent who don’t return, and even in the 50 percent who do return—you make those important life decisions as college students, and then there are consequences you live with even after you’ve returned to the faith. It seems like students are drifting at a slightly higher percentage than in the past, and as adolescence is lengthening, they’re staying away from the church longer. As age of marriage is being delayed, having children is being delayed, so it’s just more years under the belt apart from God and full of the heartbreak and disappointment that comes from living your life apart from God.

THIS ARTICLE WAS FOUND ON RELEVANT MAGAZINE'S WEBSITE, AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS   Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Church