Knowtown…

Tonight was a good night of ecclesial dreaming. Colorado had been blessed with the CBA exhibit which means that a lot of big names are in town. Today, mid day, I got a call from a new friend and fellow ecclesial dreamer asking if I wanted to go hear Rob Bell promote his new book, Velvet Elvis : Repainting the Christian Faith at a local bookstore. Even though I agree with St. Christy’s perspective (Christy was cannonized by the Missio Dei community a couple of years ago at a Thai place here in Denver), it is truly a love-hate relationship. Rob Bell is one of my favorite “teaching pastors”. He is one of those guys that is so gifted in homiletics that it blows the curve for all the other people who attempt to follow that kind of preaching paradigm. I still think his teaching series on the Ten Commandments is strong medicine. Hopefully Zondervan will publish that in the near future(hint, hint).

Even though I had heard his talk before it was still very good. It sounds like his new book will be great. But what was really impressive tonight was the newest nooma video, Rhythm. It is the eleventh one in his series and it was really very, very well done. I think Rob is touching on a new way of using the powerful medium of film in a way that will really help churches that are trying to communicate in new ways. I really liked it.

After the dog and pony, I joined Duane, Rob and Doug for some really good conversation about church stuff. I think we were all a little amazed at how many people there were to hear Rob talk and buy his book. I was very surprised to see how many young people between 16-25 that were there. (I have my theories about why that is but that is another post). The Q&A was very good, deep, generous and productive. It was encouraging to see “God stuff” happening and so many people present. And it was good to share in dialogue with my conversation companions afterward. We talked a lot about the task of starting new churches. The lion is on the loose and that makes this ecclesial dreamer very happy.

But, (you had to know that was coming…) during our conversation I couldn’t help but flash back to an observation an old friend made about the movie Titanic. Many people believe that this is the best love story ever captured on film. My friend’s wife was arguing that exact claim when he challenged it with a more realistic interpretation. He countered that the only reason the love story works in the movie is because the relationship did not survive the tragic sinking of the ship. Anyone can be “in love” for 48 hours. My friend argued that if the Titanic would have made it to its destination that their “eternal love” would not have lasted. She would have discovered that he left dirty laundry around the house and he would have found out that she snored. Their different family histories would have produced even more problems. Her wealthy parents would not have supported the relationship and he would have tired of their caste ideology. Two weeks and it would be over.

You get four ecclesial dreamers around a table with coffee and two hours to kill and it can be awesome. But I secretly kept hoping the iceburg would come and let us all leave happy. We can’t let anyone discover that I am not a real pastor and that I am actually a computer technician for my local school district. Don’t want them to know that I was on the losing end of church politics at my last church and that the only two churches I have spoken at since then both folded within weeks of me being in the pulpit. Am I merely a poser? Do I even have a right to sit at the table and talk about ecclesial dreams? I don’t know how to answer that question so it is better to end the discussion before it comes up.

But I can’t walk away from the question. Something has been born deep in my soul that compels me to find other followers of God and through this mysterious, sacramental, perichoretical fusion into an ecclesial we be formed into a person of faith. Maybe the iceburg I am waiting for will not come and I will be forced to come our from behind myself and make something real. No doubt it will be broken and wounded. No doubt the relationships that make up the ecclesial we will change painfully as we struggle to be open with one another. I remain convinced that if we can stay the course, and keep the conversation going we will find something that has been there all the time.

Tonight as I get ready for bed I have Jeremiah 29:13 on my mind. If I understand the central point of the nooma video and Rob Bell’s talk tonight it is this. The Good News is that God is with us. That he has become flesh and made is made his home with us. When we look at those people whose lives intersect our own and divide them into the “haves” and the “have nots”, or think of them as “lost” in opposition to us being “found” we have fundamentally changed the Good News into something significantly less. When we cannot see the imago dei in the other we are not seeking with our whole heart. My hope and prayer for Missio Dei is that we would become a people who seek until we find.