My roommates were up before 5am and therefore so was I. Not being able to get back to sleep, I decided to spend the rest of the morning at the local coffee shop. I read some Seamus Heaney, some Malcolm Guite, Luke chapter 4, and I meant to read some of The Lord of the Rings. But mostly I eavesdropped on other people's conversations, drank coffee, and ate an amazing turkey and cheddar croissant (1200 flaky pastry layers, people).
A university professor and two students discussed how religion was the uncredited and single most formative force motivating all historical activity. I listened as they traced the sad and taut line of Bible interpretation abuse during the civil war period. How do we use the Bible to support our own agendas? How do we conform God to our image rather than laying ourselves down to be transformed into his?
I was there for nearly four and a half hours listening to several groups of people. I was amazed at how literally every conversation I heard eventually gravitated toward questions about the Bible, Jesus, Church, and relationships in the context of faith. I started noticing repeating themes of frustration about: a lack of strong conviction and trust in Scriptural communication, lack of humanness and intimacy in large or modern churches, and a lack of rootedness and depth in specific Christian meaning.
I listened as the list was repeated with positive examples: "I love the close, simple, intimate feel", "I want to know the specifics of what we believe and why we believe it, I love theology", "He preaches the truth even if it's uncomfortable", "I want to know what the Bible really means", "I miss the old hymns and prayers". And so on.
I read a quote recently from an article about why the upcoming generation is not committing itself to Christ. The gist was that we're not giving them anything substantial enough to grab a hold of. My favorite quote was this, " We think they want cake, what they really want is steak and potatoes, but we just keep giving them cake."
In an effort to be 'sensitive' to those we want to bring into Jesus' Kingdom we've just become people pleasers who sigh out a message so vaporous and innocuous that the people who actually are seeking for something solid to believe in find nothing substantial, specific, or definite enough to merit any meaningful commitment. Too often the church is functioning like a business - we want to create a product that will please the largest number of people so we can make the most money so we can afford to feel successful. And in order to please the largest number of people you must edit the Gospel till it's so vague and allegorical and personally malleable so anyone can shape it to their needs rather than be shaped by it. Chesterton wrote (and later Rich Mullins sang) of the Creed, "I did not make it, no it is making me."
My main point though is that we're fooling ourselves into thinking that people want this generally moral, self-help, business-model Christianity. Actually they don't. They want something with definition, specificity, clearly outlined context, vision, mission, meaning, even tradition and liturgy. People are so hungry for something to provide a stark contrast to the rest of the world. A Kingdom of Heaven. They long for a place that feels foreign to them or makes them uncomfortable as long as it is true. Those who are truly seeking are seeking something that wont pull any punches, they are looking for a God who will shape them, a great King and Lord who, like Rich Mullins said, "will bloody your nose then give you a ride home on his bike".
