Uncovering an Ethos - Part 3

Here's a quote from an article I wrote a few years ago:

"People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29) Jesus often used the party or feast to represent the kingdom of God. His first miracle was performed at a wedding reception, he feasted with his brand new followers Levi and Zacchaeus, and his most famous parable ended with a huge party for a prodigal son. Often, Christians think true spirituality looks more like fasting than it does feasting. But Jesus responds, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom?” (Luke 5:34) The Subversive Community knows how to party.

The next aspect of our ethos is what I am beginning to call "A Theology of Fun". For many of us, our formation in church has led us to believe that the Holy Spirit only works during serious times - preaching, sharing, prayer, reading of scripture, singing thoughtful songs, during silence. This reality has created an unhelpful dualism which encourages people to be "spiritual" during "sacred" times and "normal" everywhere else. However, it has been our experience that some of the most powerful, formational moments can happen in the most benign settings - at the dinner table with friends, on the back porch with the guys, even during an innocent game of ping-pong (inside joke there...sorry). This is not to neglect the more serious moments, but rather to fill the times where our guard is down with the same desire for God's kingdom as during an intimate time of praise.

Playing together, eating together, laughing together...this is all serious business in the kingdom of God. We are representing something powerfully countercultural - a group of adults and our children, not just wasting our time or drowning our sorrows, but demonstrating that our productivity is not the most important thing, our financial or social status does not matter, and our relationship to one another is based on something more than we have the same hobby or like the same sports team. We are a forgiven people. We are a loved people. That is truly a sensational thing, and something we should celebrate often.

Along these lines is the recognition that simply engaging in church-related activities does not make someone a disciple. For far too long, churches have used attendance at services or bible studies to be a thermometer of growth or maturity. However, over the years our community has come back again and again to the reality that the only worthwhile measuring stick for discipleship is how we are adhering to the teachings of Jesus and the Scriptures in all of our choices and interactions. In other words, there is more to following Jesus than showing up at church. Instead of being the means to discipleship, our times together serve to help one another interpret how Jesus is discipling us in our day-to-day lives.

For this reason, it is natural to assume that a central part of our ethos would be simplicity in all things. Simplicity means that we will not allow ourselves to be so immersed in church activities or church relationships that we are unable to be present to what God is doing in our neighborhoods, jobs, schools, or even families. This requires some discipline on our part - sometimes we have to say "no" to each other and make difficult decisions about our time. Also, we have to understand that our needs are not always going to be met immediately and not everyone will be able to attend everything that the group plans. But simplicity has some deeper implications that will challenge - if we allow it to - some of our deepest held assumptions about how church is supposed to work in some traditionally controversial areas: leadership, structure, commitment, and money. More on that next time.