An interesting post today from Charismatica. It refers to an article in Charisma by J. Lee Grady who talks about the power of the Jesus Movement of the 70s. For those not in the know, this was a movement that broke out in Southern California and affected 100s of thousands of teenagers. For us in the Vineyard movement and other movements like Calvary Chapel it is a significant part of our cultural history. Here is an extract:
"The Jesus movement was primarily focused on—surprise!—Jesus. Theology was not complicated, pastors weren’t trying to be hip or sophisticated or tech-savvy; and we hadn’t yet created a Christian subculture with its own celebrities and political power bases.… In my travels this past year I’ve been horrified to learn that many Spirit-filled believers have given up the discipline of reading their Bibles even semi-regularly.
They prefer a steady diet of culturally relevant, fast-paced, techno-theology that is a poor substitute for discipleship.Many charismatics have developed the attitude that a simple focus on Christ isn’t enough.
We’d rather go to a “prophetic encounter” to hear what Obama’s chances are in 2012, or experience some exotic spiritual manifestation (gold dust, gems falling out of the ceiling), or ask Rev. Flash-in-the-Pan to pray for us for the sixteenth time so we can receive yet another “special anointing” that we will probably never use.
In the midst of all this charismatic gobbledygook, where is Jesus? Am I the only one out there who is weary of this distraction?"
I do wonder with the plethora of pop theology books currently out whether he has a point.
If some authors and specialists are to taken at their word, it almost seems degrees in sociology and pyschology are required before a degree in theology.
This week in HOME group we sang the Matt Redman song, The Heart of Worship, which that has those lines: "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about you, all about you, Jesus."
He goes on to write: "I'm sorry for thing I have made it, when it's all about you, all about you Jesus."
His words are simple. The sentiment is simple. But I find there is often, at least with me, also a need to repent of what I have made worship, ministry and theology sometimes. For my money, I think Matt has got it absolutely right.
I have a close friend who says essentially there are two types of people: engineers and mathematicians. Engineers, he says, like complexity, while mathematicians like simplicty.
The engineer will get frustrated with a simple spirtuality of theology of others, while the mathematician will complain that some things are unnecessarily complicated and a distraction to ministry and living a full life in Christ.
Yet in the the Kingdom, I believe we need to hold those two in tension. At one level the gospel is easy to understand, while on the other hand there is no doubt that some doctrine is tricky to get our heads around. Now that is not denying the role of the Holy Spirit to bring revelation, but we have to be honest with ourselves here.
I know some people would happily go back to those heady of the continued renewal services, while others are happy to push on and do more culturally focussed ministry. I wonder if we can't learn to live with the desire for both. Much food for thought, indeed!
ASD
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