Everything Must Change

Last weekend (May 9-10) I attended Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change Event in Goshen, IN with my friend Aaron. We met up with Craig and Joy, and their friends and family there. There is so much I could write about our trip - driving to Shipshewana, visiting the Menno-Hof Center, a museum of the history of the Mennonite church, having dinner with Tim Lichti, who founded the center and was its first director, and the McLaren event itself. For now I'll just write about the McLaren event.

On Friday night, McLaren outlined the global crisis we are in. He says that our global society has become a "suicide machine" that has only one outcome - desctruction. The machine exists inside the ecosystem, from which it draws resources and deposits waste. The machine is made up of a prosperity system, an equity system, and a security system, and all three overlap and are connected within the "suicide machine." The reason these systems don't work is because of the framing story that exists, that is based on consumption, greed, lack of concern for consequences, the gap between the rich and poor, spread of violence and war to achieve economic results, etc.

He compares the political/religious situation of today to be similar to the political/religious situation in Jesus' day. Different groups have their own framing stories that they operate with in response to, or in concert with, the "suicide machine." But Jesus had a different way of living - a new framing story - that was different from the framing stories of his day, and different from the framing stories of our time.

This is where I get overwhelmed. I'm just a guy trying to raise a family. In a way I feel that any positive impact I can have on my children's lives will have impact later on as they live their adult lives, hopefully in the way of Jesus. I do some things. I recycle. I buy free trade coffee when I can. I've planted trees in my yard. I donate my time to my church not only on "church work" but also "the work of the church." (McLaren made a distinction between the two.) I donate to good causes. I also do some things I should do, but I could change. I could reduce the amount of electricity I use (which is difficult to do with two teens in the house.) I could clean up the trash pit that's behind the garage. I could consume less "things."

Towards the end of the event, McLaren discussed things the average person could do in their lives, including some of the things I've mentioned above. In my journal I wrote, "We can't do everything, but we can do something."

McLaren took some time to dissect what the current Christian answer seems to be - just worry about getting yourself into heaven, because Jesus is coming soon, and you need to make sure you're taken up into heaven before Jesus destroys the world and everybody in it. Of course that's a fatalistic and self-fulfilling view of the restoration of creation, but it is a belief that many, many Christians hold to. McLaren notes that there seems to be two Jesus' - the meek and loving Jesus in the gospels, and the conquering King Jesus who comes again. McLaren pointed to the verse in Revelations 19, where the sword comes from Jesus' mouth, not in his hand, to bring truth, not violence. (In the Left Behind books, Jesus quotes Scripture while the armies of the anti-Christ explode in blood and guts.)

McLaren called for a revolution in the church. He says that churches need to start teaching the good news of the kingdom of God (read Secret Message of Jesus for more on that). There should be a maximum number of people doing the work of the church in the community (which he describes as "living out faith in the community") and a minimum number of people doing "church work" (which he says is important, but should not be the primary work).

In the book, McLaren put the differences between "the world" and Jesus like this:

The world says, "We can engage in pleasurable or profitable behaviors with undesired consequences and either avoid the consequences or clean them up later."

Jesus says, "The fulfillment of your desires can destroy you. You'd be better off cutting off your hand or plucking your eye out than taking everything you see? What good would it be to gain every possible desire, but lose your soul?"

McLaren ended with this:

We must awaken to a better dream - God's dream. The dream must deepen in our hearts and minds. We must embody the dream. We must live the dream.

I have to mention the wonderful worship times with great music written just for this event.

One thing I must mention - because God seems to be in this. I am heading up a group of people at my church who are part of what we call a "Dream Team" that is dreaming about the future of our church. I'm heading up a group to talk about Spirtual Transformation. A lot of what I heard McLaren say fits what we will be discussing.