Box Jump

Last week at mission we jumped into boxes.
it was fun.

Check out the video

http://www.stage6.com/user/BillyKangas/video/1885891/Box-jump

The Cold War of Christian Pop culture

After World War II there was a great divide between western democracy and the eastern communism. It seemed that the world had become split into two powerful sides, and that a great divide had split them. As Churchill stated in his famous speech “Sinews of Peace,”

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

Both sides feared the other was seeking world domination. Soviets saw the Marshal plan as an attempt by the United States to transform Europe to an economic dependent of the U.S. and responded by authorizing a communist coup in Czechoslovakia. The U.S., fearing the Soviets had aims at world domination, lived in an environment of fear that allowed “Red Scare” tactics like those implemented under McCarthyism. In Russia the feelings were mutual. The U.S. was seen as a power with aims at dominating their own sphere of influence.

Most historians today agree that neither side had aims of world domination in mind, it was the fear of the “other” that pushed them to close off themselves and create and live in a caricaturized society in which personal liberty was suffocated on both sides and the resources of the respective governments were implemented to create mass arsenals of weapons which would never be used.

In an age of religious extremist and with western civilization shifting into a post-Christian society those of us who find themselves within the confines of a Christian tradition can sometimes be frightened by all the changes in the world today. It often seems as if civilization has embarked upon a slippery slope in which the values many Christians hold will no longer be the norm of the society around them.

In response to this the church has begun a cold war of its own. It’s created sanctions on culture, and has tried to create alternatives of every element of pop-culture. It spans from pop divas and punk rock, to romance novels. It seems that no matter what you’re into God has a version of his own with its own slant that espouses some form of Christian doctrine.

The Church has even created its own versions of science, history, and politics.

The problem with this world is it reflects a reality that just isn’t there, and diminishes the ability of the Christian consumer to communicate with the outside world.

I just watched a video of Haggard and Dawkins talking about the issues of Evolution, and it seemed to me that Haggard had no idea what was actually going on in the world of science, but had only been in contact with many of the Christian sources that many of you are undoubtedly familiar with.

I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus holds the key to making this world a better place, and that a life in him is the only kind of life I want to live, but we can’t really talk about Jesus to the world in an effective way if we are completely outside of it.

In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul states,

“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

Should we not follow his example? The Cold War is widening the Gap between Christ and the World. If we want to bring God’s kingdom here today, we need to be here today facing the real issues of the world.

The church has no power as long as it insists on plunging its head into the sand and pretending that all the scary liberals will go away.

The World has changed and we must learn to move forward with them. By promoting ignorance instead of attentiveness we emasculate ourselves. If the church really wants to be a force in this world we need to begin to listen to the reasons why things are shifting. Western Civilization isn’t trying to bring down the church they’ve simply been let down by the church.

Jesus death tore the curtain that separated God from the world. Why have we created our own “Iron Curtain” to keep God away from the world again? It needs to come down. The people in our communities are not our enemies, they are simply people just like us and I know I want to be a part of their lives, it’s there that I can let the love of Christ shine through me.

The Common Cup

Here in Michigan there is a new coffee shop that just opened up called The Common Cup. This is the brain child of my good friend Wendy Eason with a lot of input from me and the good folks at the Ugly Mug Café. This is really exciting for me. I’ve been working in the coffee industry for some time now, (more as hobby then a career over the last year or so). This shop is the first place I’ve really had the freedom to do things the way they are supposed to be done. By getting out from under the thumb of the corporate system, and breaking free from the traditions that have become instilled in some of my favorite locally operated shops we’ve been able to make something new and exciting.

As many of you know I have a bit of an obsession with Coffee. There are few things I find as spiritual an experience as making an espresso drink. The thick sweet espresso created with meticulous systematic artisanship is a thing of true beauty.

I will be working at the common cup on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM

If you want to come in and talk theology, music, coffee, or just shoot the breeze I will be there mostly just hanging out.

http://www.commoncupcoffee.com/

The Kingdom of God

John 18:33-36

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

In the gospels Jesus talks about the “Kingdom of God” or in the above passage “my Kingdom” quite a bit.

This idea can be terrifying to a lot of people. So often when the idea of a “kingdom of God” is brought up the first thought people have is some sort of religious state along the lines of an islamofascist régime, or the kind of legislated morality often touted by those of the so called “Moral Majority” and the religious right in general.

Over the centuries since Christ first spoke of the Kingdom of God the term has been distorted and misappropriated by so many group in so many ways that I find it nearly impossible to use anymore without some sort of hour-long discussion that functions as a disclaimer to a simple point or idea.

There has to be a better way to handle this term.

So what is the kingdom of God? What is Jesus talking about?

The problem I see isn’t really in the ideas of a coming future kingdom, or a heavenly realm, but in the way that the term is used to describe life in the here and now.

When Jesus teaches us to pray that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10), or when Jesus says the kingdom of God is among you (or within you being an alternate translation, Luke 17:20-21) there is an implicit indication that there is some way that the kingdom of God is more then a distant location, or subject reserved exclusively for those with a thing for all things eschatological.

The teachings of Jesus are about HERE TODAY, just as much as they’re about “some glad morning, when this life is over.”

However, this by no means gives anyone permission to associate the “Kingdom of God” with an earthy power. As a Christian I find it nearly impossible to be anything but non-partisan. By associating oneself with one political party or another there is necessarily a tendency to favor the party’s platform on issues which diminishes our ability to evaluate where God is calling us to go. Christians must reserve their hearts and their political voice to following the teachings of Jesus, not to political allegiances.

There has been a tendency by both Democrats and Republicans to attempt to hijack the church for their own purposes. This is no different then the strategies invoked by despots throughout history who have manipulated the message of the laity to solidify their power and justify their actions. This has far too often been successful.

The Kingdom of God the church should seek is not one achieved by political initiatives, nor should it be content to look to a future reality at the expense of having the kingdom present in the here and now.

The Kingdom of God is seen whenever the life of Christ is reflected in a person’s life. When the teachings of Christ are made manifest by our actions we bring heaven to earth in powerful ways that are not contingent on legislation or only realized at some undisclosed future. They are the building blocks of a way of life that no government can promulgate or stifle. They are the outward acts of a love which knows no borders, and in the small acts we do in great love, we may find the borders of God’s kingdom expanding around us wherever we go.

Orthonomy, Orthopraxy, Orthodoxy, Orthoparadoxy

I recently heard an interview with Phyllis Tickle in which she used the term “Orthonomy.”

Listen Here

Then I ran into a panel discussion where she used the word again in the following statement.

“The Anglicans have this notion of Orthonomy the following of the law in order to make the music. Most of the world is divided between Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy.”

(General Session 2—Thursday March 11, 2004—Phyllis Tickle etc... Found Here)

Then I was reading an old LA Times Article and the word Orthoparadoxy came up.

As we stumble butts out into the future it seems there is an increasing implementation and invention of new terms to describe the way people understand the proper methods and philosophies used to be a person or people of faith.

It all used to be so simple…

Orthodoxy was when what you believed was what was most important.

Orthopraxy was when what you did was most important.

For example in the pre-Christian western world a person’s theology wasn’t important. What really mattered was if they offered the proper sacrifices to the proper gods.

Then when Christianity hit the scene there was a new emphasis in believing the right thing that naturally came along with a monotheistic, more exclusive religion. If there was only one God you’d better get him right. The notion of grace also helped the west to shift to a more orthodoxy based approach to God. With Christ even a lifelong murder/ rapist could be saved if he only put his faith in Jesus at the end of his life.

Of course Orthopraxy still played a major role in many peoples religious lives, and still maintained a major role in non-western religions, the largest of which would be Islam, which still has a very strong focus on practices.

So now what do we have.

From what I can tell Orthonomy refers to a right harmony/relationship in something, and Orthoparadoxy is the art of dissolving dichotomies.

These ideas seem very ambiguous and confusing as all get out.

What on earth does that mean?! How do you implement that in your religious life?

Tony Jones, with whom the word Orthoparodoxy seems most closely associated, wrote the following:

“You have heard it said that the emergent church values orthopraxy over

orthodoxy, but I say to you, if orthodoxy is an event, then another veil has been torn.

There is no difference between the two. .Orthoparadoxy,. as my friend Dwight Friesen

calls it, is the dialectical tension in which these two poles stand. Let me put it more

boldly: there is no orthodoxy without orthopraxy. It doesn.t exist. People may talk about

it, but they also talk about unicorns.

There is no song until it.s sung.it.s just words and notes on paper. There is no

strike until it.s called by the ump..It ain.t nothing till I call it.. And there is no

orthodoxy until it.s lived. It is an event that happens when we gather to worship, when

we change a diaper, when we read a book, when we present a paper.

You have heard it said that the emergent church vaunts experience at the expense

of rational knowledge, but I say to you that all human endeavors, including theology, are

experiential. If one knows anything about phenomenology, it is obvious that what human

beings do is experience and interpret those experiences. Walking a labyrinth is

experiential, and so is reading a theology textbook. Praying is experiential, as is listening

to a sermon. There.s no such thing as a human endeavor that is not .experiential..we

are experiential beings, and our faith practices, be they cerebral or kinesthetic,

propositional or narrative, are thus necessarily experiential, too.”

(you can read the whole presentation here)

So if I read him right it’s more about a synthesis of the two rather then a real third idea. Holding them both together in tension letting them dance around somehow in your life being both a contrasting in definition, and natural outgrowth of one another. But I might be reading into it a little.

So what then is Orthonomy?

According to Tickle, “The new authority is the beauty of the thing,” she said. Under orthonomy, people will choose those ideas that contribute to music, poetry, and beauty.

This almost reminds me of some of the Ideas of Robert M. Pirsig. Except instead of harmony he talked about quality. Well Whatever your Ortho might be (even if it’s your Orthodontist) have a great day!

Hope - Billy Kangas

Last night I spoke to the great folks at Mission Christ in Ann Arbor. It was a really fun time. The subject was on hope. With the release of the new book on mother Theresa's crisis of faith, and reading through A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis I was reminded of how my life with God can be the most excruciatingly difficult thing. If you want to listen to the talk just click on the little triangle below! It'll be totally sweet!



Let me know what you think.

mp3 File located HERE

A Christian Response to War

I recently made a video about how a Christian person is called to respond when faced with the infinitely difficult issue of war. I guess i should say I compiled a bunch of other peoples stuff to create the video.

Here it is:





It has music from my friends in Psalters who have much more to say on the issue then me. The words were spoken by Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and Dr. Martin Luther King jr. There is also music by Caribou. I think that gives everyone their fair dues. (photos are not mine either... but documenting that is something I don't feel up for today. I hope the artists can forgive me).

enjoy!

and Tell me what you think!