This is a great poem by Taylor Mali that has been turned into a short video. I saw this at Extreme Theology and thought I’d share it:

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Perhaps some of the reasons that Christian music sucks stem from postmodern nonsense?

It seems that Christophobia is rampant these days. Nothing causes such a stir as two simple words: “Jesus Christ.” Have you ever noticed that if a chaplain closes a prayer “in Jesus’ name,” it makes headlines, but if a religious leader prays to Allah, Benevolent Spirit, Jehovah, etc. no one bats an eye? Why is it that when people hit their thumb with a hammer they yell “JESUS CHRIST!” They don’t yell “BUDDHA” or “ALLAH!” It just doesn’t happen very often. It makes one wonder….

The folks who seem to fear the most when the politically incorrect name of Jesus is invoked are Christians. That’s the ironic part. I know lots of Christians who almost cringe at the mention of Jesus’ name in so-called “secular” realms.

And we seem to excuse this behavior. We seem to empathize when people hide their affiliation with Christ for job security, or to maintain a “normal” social image. Aside from DC Talk, no one wants to be labeled a “Jesus freak.”

[Jesus said,] “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).

I sometimes wonder if those who fear the name of Jesus really understand the profoundness of the Gospel. I wonder if they really know the depths of His love.

Sometimes they are unable to know the depths of His love because they do not know the depths of their sin. If your sin is small, then your Savior will also be small. But when we recognize how depraved we really are, we can only exclaim with St. Paul,

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

“Everyone” includes you and me. Everyone includes your coworkers, the media, your students, your teachers, your boss, your family, your friends, and your neighbors. How can we pray for the Gospel to be spread when we are ashamed of it? Political correctness is part of our (fallen) culture. We are called to remain “aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11), to be in the world but not of it (John 17:13-18). At times this will involve breaking cultural taboos. Even if it costs us our jobs or our very lives.

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

But take heart, we have a great and loving God. Be thankful.

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (1 Timothy 1:7-14).

I was actually writing a post about the social gospel, and then I ran across Daniel and Heather’s blog post on the subject. I couldn’t have said it better….

I also recently discussed this on my post about preaching the gospel without words. Be sure to read the comments for the discussion and feel free to chime in!

This quote pretty well sums up the new “chic” nonreligious Christian spirituality that has come to define much of postmodern Christendom. In a church that has become 5 miles wide and 1 inch deep, the journey has become far more important than the destination.

Kevin DeYoung makes a great point about this in the book he co-authored with Ted Kluck, Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be:

Because the journey is an experience more than a destination, the Christian life requires less doctrinal reflection and more personal introspection. The postmodern infatuation with journey feeds on and into a preoccupation with our own stories. If my grandparents’ generation could be a little stoic and not terribly reflective, my generation is introspective at a level somewhere between self-absorption and narcissism. We are so in-tuned with our dysfunctions, hurts, and idiosyncrasies that it often prevents us from growing up, because maturity is tantamount to hypocrisy in a world that prizes brokenness more than health.

I’m not advocating stuffing all our feelings, but we must learn that self-expression and being true to ourselves are not the surest guides to Christlikeness. Sincerity is a Christian virtue, as is honesty about our struggles. But my generation needs to realize that Christianity is more than chic fragility, endless self-revelation, and the coolness that comes with authenticity.

Thinking less of ourselves doesn’t help us focus on Christ, but rather thinking of ourselves less. In other words, even though we may admit that we are sinners, the solution is not to continue professing our brokenness but to begin professing Christ’s sufficiency. Instead of dwelling on ourselves, we need to dwell on Christ. Instead of being more honest about our shortcomings, we need to be more cognizant of Christ’s perfect righteousness (that is credited to us by faith!).

The focus of our spiritual journey is a person: Christ. The journey is certainly important, but not if you never get to know the one with whom you sojourn. The beauty is that we couldn’t even make the first step along the path, yet Christ decided to carry us through the journey because of His great love for us. Jesus Christ is the path itself as well – the way, truth and life.

As long as we’re still searching, we can still go on believing that we’re not accountable to any Higher Power. But once we admit that God has revealed Himself through His Word and that He became a man, Jesus Christ, we must live differently as a result. Being accountable isn’t so cool, but it’s much better than living in an ignorance that has eternal consequences.

While going through the assigned reading for my missions class, I came across some profound thoughts by one of the authors that I wanted to share.

The following is an excerpt from Cities and Salt: Counter-Cultures for the Common Good by Tim Keller, which can be found in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne.

The Kingdom Both Rich and Sharp. Keller describes a polarity of ideas about the kingdom:

• On the one hand, the gospel can be reduced to an individualistic message that helps people get to heaven – a “get out of jail free” card with no transformation.
• Against this, another idea of the kingdom has become very popular, in which Jesus’ death doesn’t so much assuage God’s wrath for sin as it absorbs the world’s evil and violence. Jesus’ life is exemplary, showing the way of non-violence and service. Jesus now, according to this version of the kingdom, calls us to work for peace and justice in the world. Basically, the gospel is reduced to a call to “repent of living for yourself and join Jesus’ kingdom program.” This may be, as one author put it, “all call and no grace.” Keller says that this can amount to just one more legalism.

According to Keller, both of these are extremes to avoid. We need to see that the gospel is sharp; that is, dealing with atonement for sin and justification by grace. But the gospel is also rich; that is, it equips us to pursue justice and cultural renewal.

This may be a faulty observation, but it seems that many of the mainline traditional denominations (who happen to be very modernist) have very elaborate doctrinal statements and often fall into the first category, while many of the more liberal and newer church movements (who happen to be very postmodern) fall into the second. Coincidence? I think not. What do you think?