{"id":8774,"date":"2010-10-02T11:06:35","date_gmt":"2010-10-02T16:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=8774"},"modified":"2010-10-02T06:14:13","modified_gmt":"2010-10-02T11:14:13","slug":"but-shes-your-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/02\/but-shes-your-family\/","title":{"rendered":"“But she’s your family”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I don\u2019t know Chuck DeGroat<\/a><\/strong>, but I think I like him. Here\u2019s what he calls his \u201crant against change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call me a hypocrite.\u00a0 I\u2019m about to rant against the\u00a0new<\/em>.\u00a0 People who know me and have read what I\u2019ve written, even\u00a0recently<\/a>, will laugh at my hypocrisy.\u00a0 They know my adoration for the iPad and the iPhone 4, and my belief that technology (from the Roman roads, to the printing press, to Twitter) is the way God gets his message out.\u00a0 I\u2019m also\u00a0 convinced that God was so excited about the newness of the world he created that he had to sit down for a day and take it all in.\u00a0 And God clearly doesn\u2019t have a problem (re)newing all sorts of things, because the \u201cNew\u201d Testament is chock-full of new things \u2013 new creation, new law, a new \u2018Moses\u2019, a new song, a new heart, and\u2026not least\u2026a New Exodus.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>That said, I\u2019ve got to rant against the tragic American penchant for the new, particularly is it relates to\u00a0commitments. <\/em>Let me give you an example.\u00a0 When a child is baptized, the people stand to recite a portion of the liturgy expressing something sacred and deeply meaningful:<\/p>\n

The Pastor asks:<\/p>\n

Do you promise to love, encourage, and support
\nthese brothers and sisters
\nby teaching the gospel of God\u2019s love,
\nby being an example of Christian faith and character, and
\nby giving the strong support of God\u2019s family
\nin fellowship, prayer, and service?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The liturgy is even more expansive and beautiful than that, but here\u2019s what I love:\u00a0 there is a promise of commitment,\u00a0family<\/em> commitment.\u00a0 It resists the whole \u201cI\u2019ll take the next bus to the newest-and-latest\u201d mentality.\u00a0 It resists it because of a family bond, a bond formed in common prayers, common struggles, common confessions, common meals (the Eucharist), and common joys.<\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s the deal.\u00a0 Families (=churches) are difficult.\u00a0 They are, more often than not, dysfunctional.\u00a0 Some families\u00a0 are so dysfunctional that it would be a sin not to leave.\u00a0 You leave abusive families.\u00a0 But, you stay and honestly engage in the rest.\u00a0 It may be difficult, but your own growth depends on it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen this marriages, too.\u00a0 I\u2019ve (too often) seen people quit because quitting was easy and convenient.\u00a0 We\u2019ve become habituated to holding the remote control in our hand and switching channels at our convenience.\u00a0 But, the tragedy is that we do this in\u00a0relationships, <\/em>forgetting that in a relationship\u00a0we sign up for messy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Eugene Peterson\u00a0A Long Obedience in the Same Direction<\/a> <\/em>writes:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026I am quite sure that for a pastor in Western culture at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the aspect of the\u00a0world<\/em> that makes the work of leading Christians in the way of faith most difficult is what Gore Vidal has analyzed as \u2018today\u2019s passion for the immediate and the casual.\u2019 Everyone is in a hurry. The persons whom I lead in worship\u2026 want shortcuts. They want me to help them fill out the form that will get them instant credit (in eternity). They are impatient for results.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I love that I work for a pastor here in San Francisco who has continually told people who have tried to leave really good churches to attend City Church San Francisco to STAY.\u00a0 He has told wealthy folks who could impact the bottom line to stay in their own churches even if they want to leave and come to City Church, resisting the urge to switch the channel.\u00a0 I respect that.\u00a0 He believes God is bigger than cheap substitutes.\u00a0 I left Orlando to serve here because I lived in a suburban culture addicted to the newest, latest, coolest, switchiest version of Christianity, and I watched as churches battled every week to stay the newest, latest, and coolest.\u00a0 I counseled exhausted pastors who couldn\u2019t keep up.\u00a0 I watched as small churches dwindled in number because the big ones played the most recent contemporary Christian music songs.\u00a0 And it made my heart break.<\/p>\n

What I love about liturgical worship is that it doesn\u2019t demand that we (the pastors) think up the newest and coolest worship order, drama, and light show each week.\u00a0 In the midst of the steady hand of a common liturgy, used almost everywhere (in Asia, Africa, and all over the world), we unite in a common life together.\u00a0 In it are our unique expressions.\u00a0 At City Church San Francisco, you\u2019ll hear the unique voice of Fred Harrell, a gifted group of musical artists, and the voices of our church leadership in various capacities.\u00a0 But it will all take place in a liturgy that has worked for the church for almost 2000 years, and which finds its root in the Jewish liturgy of old.\u00a0 It is an ancient-future irony, a commitment to bringing fresh life through traditions that have served the church well.<\/p>\n

But even more, it is a family language.\u00a0 In it are commitments to one another in good times and in bad.\u00a0 We confess together.\u00a0 We praise together.\u00a0 We lament together.\u00a0 We pledge ourselves in a time-honored rite of commitment to raise our children in community.\u00a0 It is a resistance against American individualism, which in its addiction to the language of rights makes us forget that we have duties, chiefly to one another.<\/p>\n

Finally, the liturgy I quoted above is from the\u00a0Reformed Church in America<\/a>, our denomination, the oldest Protestant denomination in America.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a split from another denomination.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the newest and latest.\u00a0 It\u2019s old, older than your Grandma, and your Grandma\u2019s Grandma.\u00a0 I grew up in it.\u00a0 And let me tell you\u2026it\u2019s not old and stodgy.\u00a0 Infused in its wisdom, tradition, and rootedness is life, vitality, and progressive thinking.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in rooms with people who couldn\u2019t be further from each other in belief, but who sit with one another, pray with one another, forgive one another, and support one another.\u00a0 And in the end, they agree to approve a confession like the\u00a0Belhar Confession<\/a>, a strong statement for racial reconciliation which many denominations would laugh at as too progressive.\u00a0 So much for old and stodgy.<\/p>\n

St. Augustine once said, \u201cThe Church is a Bride and a Whore.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s right.\u00a0 She\u2019ll let you down over and over again.\u00a0 Bad sermon.\u00a0 Disagreeable decision.\u00a0 Boring Sunday.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s your family.<\/p>\n

Stick to it, friends.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know Chuck DeGroat, but I think I like him. Here’s what he calls his “rant against change.”<\/p>\n

Call me a hypocrite. I\u2019m about to rant against the new. People who know me and have read what I\u2019ve written, even recently, will laugh at my hypocrisy. They know my adoration for the iPad and the iPhone 4, and my belief that technology (from the Roman roads, to the printing press, to Twitter) is the way God gets his message out. I\u2019m also convinced that God was so excited about the newness of the world he created that he had to sit down for a day and take it all in. And God clearly doesn\u2019t have a problem (re)newing all sorts of things, because the \u201cNew\u201d Testament is chock-full of new things \u2013 new creation, new law, a new \u2018Moses\u2019, a new song, a new heart, and\u2026not least\u2026a New Exodus.<\/p>\n

That said, I\u2019ve got to rant against the tragic American penchant for the new, particularly is it relates tocommitments. Let me give you an example. When a child is baptized, the people stand to recite a portion of the liturgy expressing something sacred and deeply meaningful:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[484],"tags":[354,2163],"class_list":["post-8774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","tag-change","tag-church-tradition"],"yoast_head":"\n"But she's your family"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't know Chuck DeGroat, but I think I like him. Here's what he calls his "rant against change." Call me a hypocrite. I\u2019m about to rant against the new. People who know me and have read what I\u2019ve written, even recently, will laugh at my hypocrisy. They know my adoration for the iPad and the iPhone 4, and my belief that technology (from the Roman roads, to the printing press, to Twitter) is the way God gets his message out. I\u2019m also convinced that God was so excited about the newness of the world he created that he had to sit down for a day and take it all in. And God clearly doesn\u2019t have a problem (re)newing all sorts of things, because the \u201cNew\u201d Testament is chock-full of new things \u2013 new creation, new law, a new \u2018Moses\u2019, a new song, a new heart, and\u2026not least\u2026a New Exodus. That said, I\u2019ve got to rant against the tragic American penchant for the new, particularly is it relates tocommitments. Let me give you an example. When a child is baptized, the people stand to recite a portion of the liturgy expressing something sacred and deeply meaningful:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/02\/but-shes-your-family\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""But she's your family"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don't know Chuck DeGroat, but I think I like him. Here's what he calls his "rant against change." Call me a hypocrite. I\u2019m about to rant against the new. People who know me and have read what I\u2019ve written, even recently, will laugh at my hypocrisy. They know my adoration for the iPad and the iPhone 4, and my belief that technology (from the Roman roads, to the printing press, to Twitter) is the way God gets his message out. I\u2019m also convinced that God was so excited about the newness of the world he created that he had to sit down for a day and take it all in. And God clearly doesn\u2019t have a problem (re)newing all sorts of things, because the \u201cNew\u201d Testament is chock-full of new things \u2013 new creation, new law, a new \u2018Moses\u2019, a new song, a new heart, and\u2026not least\u2026a New Exodus. That said, I\u2019ve got to rant against the tragic American penchant for the new, particularly is it relates tocommitments. Let me give you an example. 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