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Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer, The Internet Monk

What’s your gospel? The late and much missed Michael Spencer confronts us with this question throughout the pages of Mere Churchianity. Separating church life spirituality and a spiritual life centered in the Jesus found in the gospels, Spencer leads us to question which side of the divide we find ourselves on. Without using the phrase, he critiques the kind of ‘cultural Christianity’ that has infected the Church, causing us to stray from our principles. His purpose in writing the book matches that of his postings over the years on his blog, internetmonk.com, to restore Jesus as the first love of the Christian.

Spencer speaks throughout of church-leavers, those souls who have abandoned the structure and practices of the modern church while retaining their love for the Savior. His words are not a polemic pro leaving, but rather, a nudge to have us look at what the church has become and what is driving people away. At the core of his argument is the contrast of a church-shaped spirituality and the Jesus-shaped form. This distinction is stark. The former is shaped by institutional Christianity and all of the influences that have, to varying degrees, softened her and made her palatable to the larger culture. Jesus-shaped spirituality is rooted in the counter-cultural, brutally honest and challenging life and person of Jesus Christ as we know Him from the pages of the four gospel accounts.

Michael devoted himself to a Christianity that was rigorous, loving and had nothing to do with living your best life now. It had everything to do with Jesus, knowing God and a faith that transformed much more than it separated us into walled-off tribes. He walks us through the messy process of finding the Jesus that is sometimes forgotten in the middle of capital campaigns and ski outings for the youth. You will read the book quickly, but the move to the shelf will not be as rapid. The little points here and there on the pages will cause you to return as you think about what he wrote and you find yourself attracted to shedding the churchianity cloak in favor of Jesus.

I’m grateful to Waterbrook Press who supplied this copy for review.

Check out this new blog for an in-depth look at spiritual growth – www.soulworkproject.com

 

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us. (Ps 90:15)

People with unrealistic expectations or an outlook that is unfettered by the reality of scriptures portray a life that is without difficulty. In their view, the seventy, eighty or ninety years of life we are given is to be one great, long carnival of corn dogs and tilt-a-whirls. Adventure and sensual pleasures day after day without any hint of trouble shadowing the fun. Your best life now is not being lived right if adversity shows its face.

On the other hand, those of us with a more grounded view of life know that trouble and satisfaction go hand in hand in this life. We live in a fallen world in which sin has woven its way into the very fabric of life, leaving nothing untouched. The psalmist expresses this reality in Psalm 90, contrasting the brevity of life with the ongoing struggle that seems to mark it. Why God, he exclaims, why can’t you provide a little more balance of pleasure to pain to lessen the agony?

This psalm must be read in tandem with its brother, Psalm 91. They are two sides of the same coin. One vents a frustration with ongoing anxiety, the other expresses the knowledge that security is found only in the Lord. The balance between the good and bad of life is centered in the trust that the God of the universe has everything well in hand. Any momentary pleasures or travail are simply a part of His unfolding plan. Difficult to accept in the midst of one and seemingly too brief in the other, when we center our being in Him, we trust that each has its purpose in the plan.

Grace and peace to you.

 

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Worship Craft ran into a bit of a bandwidth struggle due to the popularity of the worship backgrounds I was offering. It took me a while to figure out a solution but it seems ready to go again. I will officially relaunch in a few days but you can take a peek now if you like. www.worshipcraft.com

Happy new year to one and all. I must be getting old. Instead of ringing in the new year at the Cow Palace as in years past, shortly after midnight I fell asleep to the booming of our neighbor’s fireworks.

First good sign of the new year: a message from a cousin that I had lost touch with.

The greatest gift has been given once and for all time in Jesus Christ. As it says in Mt 7:9-10, the Good Father knows the gifts we need and truly desire deep down in our hearts and will give us nothing else. When our greatest need was for a savior, that is exactly what he provided.

Merry Christmas