Old is the new New
Strange title, but let me explain. I’m primarily a hamburger guy. Some people gravitate towards hot-dogs, or pitas, or sushi – but I’m prone to burgers. I know I shouldn’t eat them. But sometimes I do. One day, I didn’t. I tried a sub instead. Wow. It was so good. Fresh veggies and thinly sliced meat on fresh bread. I was telling everybody about subs. I could eat a foot-long and not feel sleepy like I do when I eat a burger. I ate three in one week. It was exciting (I do get out much, you know – to get the subs). It was so fresh. So new.
But it didn’t last. I haven’t had a sub for a few weeks now. They’re still good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s possible that I could be eating a hamburger sometime in the not-too-distant future. Subs lost their newness (newety?) It happens all the time. Two people meet and become infatuated with one another. Everything is exhilarating. The electricity and chemistry and geography (?) and all that. But it is a stage. It is elusive. People that get married learn to live after the “honeymoon” stage. It takes work, but you move on to better things – security, stability, real intimacy, connectedness, and all the rest that comes along with commitment. But some people (more all the time) think that something is wrong when the moon is not made out of honey anymore.
I think we are all looking for that pang of newness. We get bored easily. It causes problems in our families, in the work-place and in the Church. There is always a new movement it seems. I was in college when the “Toronto Blessing” came to town. I sat in a room full of guys during a prayer meeting who were “laughing in the spirit”. Why wasn’t I laughing? But people are realizing that charismania is really just a physiological experience – euphoria. It isn’t lasting. There are still new movements though: The Third-Wave, the House Church Movement, and now the Emerging Church Movement (ECM). ECM is gathering speed and the “conversation” is getting louder. People are talking about “a new kind of Christian”. These are bright people with some genuine concerns. They are worried about staleness. They just have to make sure they don’t throw out the chicken with the bucket.
Christ is the perpetual novelty. For years I had only seen one side of the cross. I believed that Jesus died so that I could be forgiven for my sins, but I had no idea that he also died to deliver me from sin. I read Watchman Nee’s “The Normal Christian Life” and it rocked me to the core. It was simply a study of Romans 3 to 8, but it was a clean breeze that blew through my heart. Since then, I keep discovering things about the Lord Jesus that have given me an insatiable appetite for Him. He satisfies and always meets the hunger I have – even as it grows. That’s why he said that his flesh is food and his blood is drink. Macabre sounding, I know, but he meant that he – himself – is the very sustenance for the new life in us.
If you’re looking for something new, don’t simply be reactionary to the old. ECM seems at this point to be just that. I shouldn’t generalize like this, but so far, I’ve read more about “following Christ” than actually ABOUT Him in the blogs and articles that are out here in the Mecca of Emergent – the Internet. Don’t lose out on the tried and true obsession with “the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth”. He has satisfied the thirst for novelty for centuries now. He will for centuries to come (even so, come Lord Jesus). Did you know that He was quoting Psalm 22 when He cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Did you know that He filled in some missing narrative about Balaam in Revelation chapter 2? Did you know that when He got in the boat after walking on the water, He immediately transported them miraculously to the shore? Just to wet your appetite a little. I’m getting hungry – maybe I’ll try Tai.
BJ
But it didn’t last. I haven’t had a sub for a few weeks now. They’re still good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s possible that I could be eating a hamburger sometime in the not-too-distant future. Subs lost their newness (newety?) It happens all the time. Two people meet and become infatuated with one another. Everything is exhilarating. The electricity and chemistry and geography (?) and all that. But it is a stage. It is elusive. People that get married learn to live after the “honeymoon” stage. It takes work, but you move on to better things – security, stability, real intimacy, connectedness, and all the rest that comes along with commitment. But some people (more all the time) think that something is wrong when the moon is not made out of honey anymore.
I think we are all looking for that pang of newness. We get bored easily. It causes problems in our families, in the work-place and in the Church. There is always a new movement it seems. I was in college when the “Toronto Blessing” came to town. I sat in a room full of guys during a prayer meeting who were “laughing in the spirit”. Why wasn’t I laughing? But people are realizing that charismania is really just a physiological experience – euphoria. It isn’t lasting. There are still new movements though: The Third-Wave, the House Church Movement, and now the Emerging Church Movement (ECM). ECM is gathering speed and the “conversation” is getting louder. People are talking about “a new kind of Christian”. These are bright people with some genuine concerns. They are worried about staleness. They just have to make sure they don’t throw out the chicken with the bucket.
Christ is the perpetual novelty. For years I had only seen one side of the cross. I believed that Jesus died so that I could be forgiven for my sins, but I had no idea that he also died to deliver me from sin. I read Watchman Nee’s “The Normal Christian Life” and it rocked me to the core. It was simply a study of Romans 3 to 8, but it was a clean breeze that blew through my heart. Since then, I keep discovering things about the Lord Jesus that have given me an insatiable appetite for Him. He satisfies and always meets the hunger I have – even as it grows. That’s why he said that his flesh is food and his blood is drink. Macabre sounding, I know, but he meant that he – himself – is the very sustenance for the new life in us.
If you’re looking for something new, don’t simply be reactionary to the old. ECM seems at this point to be just that. I shouldn’t generalize like this, but so far, I’ve read more about “following Christ” than actually ABOUT Him in the blogs and articles that are out here in the Mecca of Emergent – the Internet. Don’t lose out on the tried and true obsession with “the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth”. He has satisfied the thirst for novelty for centuries now. He will for centuries to come (even so, come Lord Jesus). Did you know that He was quoting Psalm 22 when He cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Did you know that He filled in some missing narrative about Balaam in Revelation chapter 2? Did you know that when He got in the boat after walking on the water, He immediately transported them miraculously to the shore? Just to wet your appetite a little. I’m getting hungry – maybe I’ll try Tai.
BJ
posted by BJ at 10:30 a.m.
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