Chuck Ryor

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”  He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”  Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.  He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” – Genesis 28:16-22

Here at the start of 2012 I’ve started another trek through the Bible.  I’m reading through one of those “Through the Bible in a Year” plans where you start in the Old Testament and keep going until the end of the New Testament.   Just about the time you hit Christmas you’re near the end of your journey, trying to somehow emotionally reconcile the “Beast” and “Anti-Christ” from the book of Revelation with your celebration of Christ’s birth, presents and holiday cheer.

Anyway.

I just finished Genesis and am once again impressed with something that the Israelites did.  They built monuments.  All over the ancient world, God’s people would erect these stone symbols of God’s working and faithfulness. They and their descendents would acknowledge these markings when walking past and look upon them with reverence to remember all that God had done.

My wife and I were recently talking about the number of ways that we’re praying for God to move mightily in our lives and church this year.  We’ve determined that one of the real benefits of monuments to God’s greatness is that when you face new trials you can remember how faithful He has been in the past.  These reminders are what give us renewed confidence and optimism.

Unfortunately, many of us often forget what God has done.  We see or experience His faithfulness in one way or another and then move on to thinking about our next “need” or “emergency.” If you’re like me at all, you haven’t frequently stopped first to properly thank him, celebrate His grace, or mark the occasion with a memorial to remind us later how good He has been.

What does that look like for you?  I’m still trying to figure out what that looks like for me.  I don’t imagine I’ll be building a limestone obelisk in my front yard.  But the idea would be that these reminders would be semi-permanent and obvious enough that I’d see it regularly.  My hope would be that as new challenges come our way in 2012 that we’d be able to remember God’s past graces.  I am confident that this awareness will fuel our love for Jesus and service to Him.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  At once they left their nets and followed him. – MARK 1:14-18

I had a conversation with a local pastor who echoed the sentiments of many Christians by saying, “We don’t ‘do’ church, we’re concerned with ‘being’ the church.”  At the heart of this expression is a frustration with a high-program entity called “church” that has very little connection at a one-on-one relationship level.  The reaction to this busy church environment for some is to course correct and be a congregation that is most concerned with the development of its own community.

While no pastor or lay leader I’ve ever known would say, “I hate community, I wish we could do without it,” there certainly exists a sense among some that something is amiss in churches where people don’t seem to have genuine connection with others.  At a human level we all want to be genuinely known and loved in spite of that fact.  This was the “Good News of God” that Jesus proclaimed:  Believers are known by God and loved in spite of it.  This is also at the heart of authentic community and why many would avoid it:  People can be difficult to be around when you really get to know them.

Three thoughts come to mind when I think about the challenges associated with being around difficult people.  First of all, I’m a difficult person.  I believe we all are in some ways.  So, we ought to get over the idea that everyone else is fortunate to be in our presence.  Secondly, it is unlikely that we will be able to know and love others unconditionally if we haven’t experienced the gospel in its fullness on a deeply personal level.  We must understand that on the cross, Jesus absorbed our deserved judgment and cleared the way for broken, sinful people to be who they are in the presence of God and yet be freely adored as His children.

Finally, I know that even committed followers of Jesus who enjoy “being” the church will tend exhibit a good bit more pettiness and selfishness if they don’t keep in mind that following Jesus isn’t a stagnant process.  When Jesus called his first disciples and told them he would make them fishers of men, he declared that being part of His entourage entailed walking places with him and bringing others along for the journey.  Only in His presence, on His mission of proclaiming the good news, will followers of Jesus have Him mediate their inclination to put their own needs above another’s.

In other words, we can’t “be” the church unless we are in the process of “doing” what the church should be doing:  following Jesus and communicating His gospel so that others will join us and follow Him, too.

I don’t know Mark Driscoll.  I shook his hand and thanked him for his service a couple of times at Acts 29 pastors conferences, but we aren’t buddies and he wouldn’t know me from Adam.  I say this because the presumption of his critics is that pastors in our network (which he co-founded with a Presbyterian) are somehow under a spell of his leadership and unable to detach from him.  These people clearly have little contact with Acts 29 pastors.

The real miracle of the Acts 29 Network is how you can get so many type-A males in a room together and have them not eat each other alive.  The admirable part of Driscoll’s leadership in A29 has been how hands off he’s been regarding the evolution of the network (President Scott Thomas really runs the show), and how willing he is to admit when he screws up.

If critics of Driscoll spent any time with Acts 29 pastors they would be shocked at how strong all of these men are.  The notion that any of these guys have fallen under a spell or don’t have the moxie to stand up to him is laughable.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t a bunch of Driscoll wannabes around the country, but their motivation is usually their own fame and/or desire for influence.  That’s not his fault – there is a bunch of Brian McLaren wannabes writing on Internet blog sites, too.

I can assure you that I don’t agree with everything Mark Driscoll says and has said.  I’m fairly sure Driscoll doesn’t agree with everything Mark Driscoll has said. I have cringed at things Driscoll has written, but I’ve cringed thinking about things I have written.  I’ve never seen an organization where strong, young leaders (male and female) don’t make fools of themselves as they figure this all out.  Isn’t that the nature of growing as a person? You realize your ignorance or foolishness and then you adjust and mature.

Unless you never say anything, the odds that you’ll say something wrong are pretty high.  However, some of Driscoll’s critics simultaneously take exception with how “conservative” his theology is and how “liberal” and reckless he is in his speech.  That’s like getting mad at your spouse for not expressing his/her feelings and then getting angry about what they say when they finally do.

The theological statement of our network gives each local church latitude to differ on certain issues that the network doesn’t think are central to the gospel and our mission.  This translates to all of us being in a process of learning and growing regarding how to live out our faith.  I believe things differently than I did ten years ago, which is why I’m no longer a Presbyterian minister.

The critics of Driscoll’s new book “Real Marriage” have swooped down to rip apart both him and everything he believes that bothers them.  The far right, the far left, and everyone in between (including the friendly atheists) all think he’s terrible, awful, hurtful, cruel, ignorant, and a deceiver. I’m not here to defend the “Real Marriage” book or the hype around it.  I liked a lot of it, I disliked some of it, I found portions of it disturbing.  I am interested in once again pointing out what I think is obvious about the times in which we live.

I’m always amazed that bloggers (professional critics) don’t ever seem to comprehend the implied disrespect in their critique of Driscoll or their condescending “empathy” for those who agree with him.  “His poor wife, Grace.”  “His legions of followers.”  “The army of misogynistic pastors he commands.”  Assuming these hordes actually exist, they’re all apparently really stupid and incapable of thinking for themselves.  The women are trapped in unenlightened thinking about family because they are uneducated, scared, sad little southern women.  Clearly, if you disagree with Driscoll’s critics, “you just don’t see the world the way it should be seen.” Isn’t this type of thinking one of the reasons the emergent church has retreated from traditional evangelicalism?

Don’t imagine for one second that you’ll ever hear critics say that Grace Driscoll knows what she believes, is an intelligent woman and that it’s possible she’s right and they’re wrong.  And this is the great hypocrisy of those who spend their time criticizing other people:  in their criticism they often ironically display outwardly the same internal issues they claim drive the objects of their disdain.  The emergent church bloggers who contend that Mark Driscoll is arrogant and demeaning to women are presuming that the woman he’s married to and the women in Acts 29 churches are not as liberated, educated and/or mature, as are they.

That sounds pretty arrogant and demeaning to me.