Dreaming
April 9th, 2008 | by Catherine Amber | Published in Culture, Featured | 12 Comments
A book called “Unchristian” has been put out, in part by the Barna Research group. They are studying the responses of people to the notion of Christianity and Christians in general. In a nutshell, the news isn’t good. The “church” has lost credibility and strikes many as hypocritical and judgmental and specifically not a strong reflection of Jesus.
The last section has comments from many leaders with a wide range of perspectives. The last piece is by Brian McLaren and I thought it was worth sharing….
In thirty years research could tell us that when people think Christian they think things like this:-Christians are the ones who love people, whoever they are - gay or straight, Jew or Muslim, religious or atheist, capitalist or not, conservative or liberal.- Christians are the ones who have dome more than anyone in the world to stop the HIV/AIDS crisis.- Christians are the people who gravitate toward the poor and who show compassion through generous action and seek justice so that systemic causes of poverty are overcome. They call the rich to generosity, and they call on rich nations to work for the common good.- Christians are people who believe that art and creativity are important, so they consistently produce the most striking, original and enriching art.- Christians are willing to give their lives for the cause of peace. They oppose violence in all its forms. The will lay down their lives to protect the vulnerable from the violent.- Christians care for the environment. They don’t just see it as raw materials for economic gain, but they see it as the precious handiwork of their Creator.- Christians have personal integrity. They keep their marriage vows and are aware of how destructive misused sexuality can be. Yet they are compassionate toward people who make sexual mistakes and they never consider themselves superior.- Christians build harmony among races. You always know that you’ll be respected when you’re around a Christian.
McLaren concludes: perhaps I am a dreamer. But when hard realities jolt you out of denial (as the research presented here can help do), the status quo becomes less acceptable, and one is motivated to dream of better possibilities.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:34 pm (#)
I am a dreamer too…..I love this. Thanks for sharing it.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:27 am (#)
This sounds like a dream worth having.
Imagine all the people, living life in peace… You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one… - John Lennon
April 10th, 2008 at 6:42 pm (#)
I hope one day you will join us, and the world can live as one…..
April 11th, 2008 at 12:47 pm (#)
I like that.
April 13th, 2008 at 3:48 pm (#)
It’s a great song with a great message - - I used to think it was years before it’s time. Now I know that it is always time for peace and love. As someone I know and love said, “They are NOT the destinations - they are the way.”
April 14th, 2008 at 7:49 am (#)
Hey, that sounds like it’s from a song on a certain CD that I know.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pm (#)
Dear Someone I Know and Love,
I have that CD!! It is in my car stereo right now!!
April 16th, 2008 at 11:12 am (#)
These are great goals to dream of! How marvelous to be seen in this light! Yet, as I read through the list, I realized that these are actually the results (I wish I could think of a stronger, and better descriptive word for that) of something greater -
A Christian is a sinner who has been redeemed by God through belief in Jesus, the Son of God, who then dedicates his/her life to living it in a manner that proclaims God’s love and redemption for all. Because of living that life, a Christian - a follower of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God - is known for these things….
April 17th, 2008 at 10:31 am (#)
Karen in AZ,
I would wholeheartedly agree that the change that we desire and seek doesn’t come because we want to do a bunch of nice things for people. It comes from a radical transformation. The transformation doesn’t come as a “we have to accomplish all these goals and make everything better” epiphany. That hardly sounds like an epiphany. It comes when we realize that the things that we held most dear, the things that drive our day to day life, are misguided. Money, power, prestige, security, and being well-liked aren’t bad things, but if we make them the focus, they become something that they were never meant to be.
“We say that we want love and that we want peace, but we do not realize these are not the destinations… they are the way.” I wrote those words because I believe they are true. You can’t “have” or possess love. Same with peace. They aren’t things that we can possess inside of us. They are the way in which we were meant to live. They don’t become the end result of the relationship, they become the space in which the relationship operates. They become (to use Paul Tillich’s descriptor for God), the “Ground of Being” in the relationship. They become the why and the how of the connection that exists between two people, a community of people, the world at large. That’s the dream. The dream is not doing the right stuff, or having the right stuff. It’s seeing things differently, it’s being grounded differently. It’s love and peace transformed back into what they were meant to be.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:32 am (#)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on here. We love hearing from our friends around the US/World.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:59 pm (#)
“The Ground of Being” - - how much do I LOVE that phrase……
April 17th, 2008 at 11:02 pm (#)
Dave, I think the thoughts are getting closer to what I’m trying to express. Thanks for some key thoughts.
Transformation is a key word. (thanks!) When the foundation is the True Foundation (Jesus Christ), we are truly transformed (sometimes more slowly than we would like, or in smaller steps - but then God knows how big of steps we can handle!) and the dreams (fruit?) come forth!
The other part of the dream that seems to be expressed here is to be seen by the “world” as a positive rather than (almost always) as a negative.
I guess one question to ask ourselves is: Why does “the world” see/interpret our actions in a negative manner?
The second question would be: Can that be changed?
There are a couple of questions to mull for a while!