New Kind Of Christian - chapter 1

Debs and I are going to a small group at our church that is exploring Brian McLaren's book: A New Kind of Christian.  I was asked to do a summary to chapter 1, so here's what I wrote/read (in my best Morpheus voice :)...

Get everyone to tilt their heads

Chapter 1 – I am not as alone as I think I am

Let me ask you a question?

Have you ever woken up one morning and felt that overnight your world had shifted, that your view of the world was now tilted, like your view of the world is now? 

Have you ever felt that what fitted comfortably, like a key that once turned smoothly in a lock, now first needs to be jiggled, then forced to fit, and then finally will hardly turn at all?

Have you ever felt that what was once was black and white, is now greyer and less distinct, that around the edges a mist rolls in and your vision is obscured?

Our world has been slowly moving out of kilter, shifting, changing, for what must have been a long time but it is only now that something jars us, prods us, feels wrong and continues to nag away in the back of our minds…

I look around and everyone else seems unaffected, still cheerfully believing what they’ve always believed, smiling and telling me that everything will be ok, it’s a bump in the road, a hiccup, a blip, a test of faith even, but God will see me through it…

So we smile and nod but our world refuses to right itself, refuses to co-operate and let us fall back into the old patterns – we  try and force ourselves to try harder, relying on all the old strategies that used to work – but like a needle hitting a scratch in an old vinyl record I find myself stuck… the tune I once could hear so clearly now sounds discordant in my ears, the lock that once turned so smoothly refuses to budge, despite all the effort I expend or how long I try…

Maybe it is just me? It feels like it when I try and explain the sense of vertigo I am experiencing… as I struggle to capture the whisps of the feelings in me, to put into words, let alone thoughts what I am experiencing. 

I feel alone, I feel different, I feel confused, I feel like giving up... Maybe not in God or Jesus, although I do feel like that at times, but in this religion, this faith, these beliefs where I feel my face no longer fits and I no longer belong…

At what point do we accept that there is no going back, that the new world view for us will be a tilted one?

Who can we share this with who won’t insist that we are being silly at best, heretical at worst… telling us that all we need to do is straighten our necks up and get on with the important things in life? 

Who can we be honest with, sharing our fears, our doubts and our questions with? 

Where can we find people who, even if there view is straight, will tilt their heads with us? People who will accept you and me? People who will give us space and conversation?  People who w ill help us find the words that we lack? People who will spend time with us, becoming friends, as we  explore this new world, creating together shape,  form, feeling to the thoughts we are sensing…

For me, I hope it is here, I hope it is now, I hope it is with you…

HT to Mak's husband, David, for the head tilting and vertigo ideas...

Comments

[John Smulo]

That is one of my favorite books. Great idea for a small group!

[Paul]

Thanks John, was a good evening! I'll probably blog more of my thoughts as we go on further :)

[molly]

Yeah, wow! In my circles, you loan that book wrapped up in a brown paper bag...
:lol:
(No, I'm not actually joking)...

[Paul]

I'm clearly mixing in the wrong circles, the contents of my brown paper bags don't have this sort of book in them, lol...

It was intersting talking last night about chapter 1 and having people to talk about this stuff with - and how rare it is to find people who will do as I dreamed/hoped above... was a great evening of people being vulnerable and open...

I know what that feels like, it is one of the reasons i started writing this blog, i just needed somewhere to splurge, not to mention being able to hang out at other people's sites and not feel so alone...

You're always welcome to hang out here Molls, it's a safe but dangerous space :)

[johnsmulo]

Molly,

That is the funniest thing I've heard in a long-time--the best lines are the true ones :-)

[Joy]

Oh Molly!! You are so right!!

Paul, this book was the beginning of the beginning for me!

I am still looking for people to share this with. I read this book a little over a year ago, I think and promptly devoured the next two...

I let Cyndi (Graceful Journey) borrow them and she is reading them... but she was already there. I also have "Generous Orthodoxy" and "Exiles" by Mike Frost. I cringed in fear when I saw Exiles in my husbands hands last week. I waited quietly for him to put it down... and when he did, I hid it!!

I have tried to share this stuff with my husband but he thinks I have jumped off a cliff! I guess I have... but the thing is, I am learning I can fly!! LOL Or maybe I'm falling, with style!

I hope you will keep posting on this!! Man, I wish we could all be there!!

[David]

Thanks for the kudos. I'm blessed my tilted head helped. My head is still tilted by the way.
Great post.

[molly]

Glad YOU all got a laugh out of it... :)
(I am not joking, that is how my grandmother loaned me her copy of "The Secret Message of Jesus" just a few weeks back)...

[Paul]

Kudos, where kudos due... thanks David for introducing me to the world of tilted heads :)

[Paul]

Joy, falling with style - now that is graceful :)

Funny as I shared at the group that what kick started me off on all this was when i could no longer reconcile the public projection of me as an all round christian nice guy and the crumbling decaying rotten me on the inside - from that crisis point of honesty and God intervention I started down this path - my main Q was how come something i so faithfully shovelled for like 16 or so yrs turned me into something so the opposite of what it was meant too.

My main revelation was that someone by being honest with me gave me the courage to be honest with myself, God and others - so i guess i have taken that seriously in finding my new calling of modelling imperfection http://paulmayers.blogs.com/my_weblog/2006/08/finding_my_purp.html

I once did a freefall jump from 2 miles up - a mile of freefall and then the other mile on the parachute, was the most awesome experience of my life - but as scary as anything - so here's to safe landings and good parachutes :)

[Paul]

Molls - your grandma loaned you her copy of the secret message!!!!!! What are you folks, some sorta secret brian mclaren book running/smuggling ring??? lol

Seriously that is so cool!!!!