The iPhone makes it’s debut today. Meanwhile, I just found out about Slacker Radio - a slightly backwater revolution that is taking place in the radio business. Since radio for the past 75 years has worked in basically the same way, I was surprised to finally see Slacker take some steps to advance the industry. Check it out.

When I first created an account, it took me straight to the “Top 40″ Stations, so for the first time in memorable history, I actually listened to some of that stuff. Through the sludge of Paris, Mandy, Justin, and Christina, I began to think a little about Top 40 radio and its function in our society.

Two weeks ago I was at the Civic Center getting ready for Wikicclesia when I bumped into Petty Hunter, the president for the local chapter of the NAACP. He had been given the conference room neighboring ours, and was thumping hip-hop loud and clear into the hallways. I enjoyed the irony of “Wikicclesia” meeting right next to “NAACP Hip Hop Summit” as I walked up to Petty. He and I talked about Hip Hop and the negative culture that surrounds it. We talked about how on Top 40 stations you truly do hear the same songs twenty times a day, many of them carrying the same messages of sex, gangs, drugs and hate. Petty talked about how he was hoping to expose teens in his conference to positive Hip Hop that doesn’t make it to the radio. You go Petty.

In a culture of constant noise, Top 40 radio is America’s method for meditation.

Throughout the day, as we drive in our cars, work on our homework, or even talk to our friends, we insert the little white buds of enlightenment, connecting us to a larger world that we cannot see or taste or touch. We allow the music to play constantly while we busily go about our lives, while subconsciously burrowing animistic messages deep into our brains. It is the brain candy of our generation - it is the cocaine of our culture.

What’s nuts is that music we listen to on the Top 40’s is simply chosen for us. Music labels pay BIG BUCKS to get their songs on those rotations, because they know that if consumers hear a song 20 times a day, they’re going to go out and buy it. What they could care less about is what they’re selling. Katrina once told me that in art, you could put a piece of poop on a pedestal, and with the right lighting in the right art gallery, you could sell it for a fortune. Pop-music and the big music business is not far off.

But what happens when the music of our culture is SOLD TO US, rather than us buying it? Or what happens when movies or TV is produced with product placement in mind? When art is more about marketing than simply making art? Our culture ceases to become a culture; it simply becomes the host for the parasite of the marketing monster that consumes its consumers.

Which brings me back to Slacker! Unlike traditional Top 40 radio, you have the choice to make a choice in what you listen to. You are listening to an online radio station (there are hundreds to choose from), and yet you have the choice at any moment to skip a song you hate, and it’ll never play that song again. Not only that, but its commercial free. Art made for art’s sake.

I feel like the concept of music meditation could be developed further here, but I’ve run out of words. It seems like our culture is better at mysticism than it realizes. We just have to discover what it is we are focusing on minds and spirits on. Thoughts?

Last Saturday I picked up an extra shift at the steakhouse I work for here in Abilene. As of late I have been in prayer about my co-workers and asking the Lord to raise up workers in his harvest from among the people who work there. Father has been drawing my prayers toward one individual, who is quickly becoming a good friend of mine.

This man is not even as old as I am, and yet he just finished signing all his divorce papers last Friday. That is why he invited me and several others out to Remington’s Bar after work on Saturday. Remington’s is (I’m told) the most respectable bar in Abilene; a good middle-class experience - not too grungy, and not gold-plated. I’ve been there a few times in the past, and each time I walk in with the prayer that God would open my ears and eyes to what I am supposed to experience. He has never failed to answer that prayer.

My friend and I were sitting together and reflecting on his past 3 years as a married man when she approached. Her name was Shar. She had just moved back from Atlanta and knew absolutely NO ONE in Abilene. While she was disappointed with the night life (who isn’t?), she kept hoping that she would find some fun friends to start hanging out with. We introduced ourselves and told her that we had some other friends that would be joining us soon.

Before long we were all toasting each other with drinks and smiles, patting each other on the back for a long night’s work well done. Shar was still in the group, but was having a hard time striking up a meaningful conversation through all the “steakhouse banter”. She scooted over towards me and asked, “So what did you say you were studying?”

With a just a hint of anxiety in my voice I replied, “Uh, missions.”

“Oh.” She did better than most to quickly change the subject, talking about her life in med school and her father who had passed away two years ago, but about 10 minutes later she pressed further.

“So you’re in missions? What is that exactly? That means, like, Christian stuff right? Do you want to be a pastor or something?” I had been pegged. I told her that I did not want to be a pastor, and that both my wife and I had been changed by Christ in very tangible ways, and I wanted to spend my life letting people know what else in life is possible when Christ is at the center. I felt better than I normally do trying to explain myself…as if I really needed to.

“So…” she looked around the room, then back at me.

“Oh. I guess you’re wondering why I’m HERE. I suppose I see no reason why a Christian should hole himself up away from his friends and from so many others just because bars are looked down on at churches. This is where Jesus would’ve been hanging out. Look how much fun they’re having!” I pointed up at an elderly couple that was doing a pretty energetic two-step at the front of the room. They were obviously in love and loving life.

Shar went a little deeper, “That’s good to hear. You know, I had a few Christian friends back in Atlanta who were just amazing. I loved hanging out with them and all, but I always felt judged by them because while I would hang out with them, they would never hang out with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean they would never come out to the bars I loved to go to, and never found time to head to any of my other friends’ houses. It just seemed like they were there to drag me away from everyone else I knew. I guess things would have been a lot different for my life if they had actually cared.”

That did it for me. I saw clearly, maybe for the first time ever, the effects of Christians who are just there to add to their own numbers, and not to truly befriend those who needed to know Christ. All I could say in response was, “Shar, there is so much more to following Christ than you’ve been shown. Keep looking.” I don’t know if that conversation affected her, but it sure got to me.

Steve, my Bostonian buddy, just finished writing a great post on “exiles at the table”.  Christians have become professionals at inviting others to their own activities…their own tables.  But could it be that many non-Christians are waiting for Christians to join them at their own tables before trusting them will ever be an option?

Shar’s words about her life almost being changed but for the segmenting Christian friends she hung out with holds tight around my heart.  I will NEVER be afraid to go somewhere with my non-Christian friend.  Christ who goes with me is more powerful than anything that might be present, wherever we go.  For the rest of my life I commit to demonstrating my love for my friends by being present, and by being Christ everywhere I go.  Now “studying missions” actually means something to me.

Lord, I pray for Shar, and I ask that while she in here in Abilene you will give her friends that meet her on her turf - people who are incarnations of your Kingdom in her world.   That the world may know.

It’s fun being married - last night we had a “sleepover” where we stayed up super-late and watched a movie and snacked on anything we could get our hands on. But that also meant waking up around 10:30 this morning with not a little of that infamous “sleep” in our eyes (anyone have a better word for that stuff??).

As I was finally getting ready for the day, (it was about 11:30am), I got a call from my new friend Brad, whose friendship is another blog post altogether. For now, suffice it to say that just two weeks ago he committed his life to Christ through baptism and is pumped about sharing his faith with many of his lost friends. Brad asked, “What’cha doing this morning Mark?”

I responded with “Well, I just woke up about an hour ago, and I’ve just been enjoying the morning at home so far.”

“It’s Sunday morning! Why aren’t you at church you lazy bastard!” Brad cajoled.

It is the funniest thing, “going to church”. I didn’t really have an answer for him right then, so I just laughed along with him and we continued our conversation. Some reflections now as the day comes to a close on our little dialogue:

First, I LOVE the circles I’m running in these days. No longer am I with the “church-ified” Christians, who fear how they might look if they say what they are thinking. Brad’s response was authentically blunt, which is a refreshing joy for me, even though it still throws me off guard.

Second, while I didn’t technically “go anywhere” this morning that could be called a “church”, I am beginning to find the Church as much more of a liquid than a solid. Let me explain my free-flowing thoughts here…

This morning, we woke up together and took it easy. We both read from God’s Holy Word, then got ready as we talked about what we heard God saying to us through the pages, and where the “biblical canon” came from in the first place. Then we talked about how cool it would be to create a booklet or a website that gave seekers the chance to ask questions about the nature, function and origins of Christian Scripture.

After getting ready for the day, we continued our “church” by heading out to grab something to eat, where we bumped into a friend of mine who is doing work with victims of domestic violence and prisoners with drug problems. We scheduled a time for our families to meet up in July. His baby boy is getting so big.

As we were driving, I felt the Lord’s presence in a deep way as I listened to “Something Beautiful” by the Newsboys (audio sample here, lyrics here) and just started worhshipping and thanking God in whispered prayers for his image-rich Creation that points to a beautiful Kingdom that flows in and out of everything wonderful and beautiful and true in our lives here on earth. Inspiring…

A friend from out of town called and said he was passing through town and wanted to meet with us if possible. We invited him to join our cookout with our faith family. During the cookout, our neighbor popped his head out of his door, and we invited him over too. We shared laughs, stories, and watermelons. “Church was happening” all over the place.

“Church happens.”

Afterward, “church” flowed into a coffee shop where the conversation continued, and we met up with a friend Katrina is mentoring/coaching through some big decisions right now. They’ve been talking about everything from major life goals to boy troubles to new shoes. They’ve found their way back to our living room and the conversation is electric. I’m having a hard time staying out of it even now to write this blog post!

Church happens everywhere. It is not something you can GO to - it is the liquid movement of God’s people interacting with each other and with their world. Now when people ask “where do you go to church?” I say, “Where DON’T I go to Church!?!”

———-

What would happen if Christians found themselves living as the Church God created them to be? IN the world, but not of it?

What if instead of going to a spiritual goods and services distribution center to download God or encouragement, Christians learned how to hear from the Lord everywhere they went?

What would have to change about the Church if it looked less like a solid and more like a liquid, reaching into every nook and cranny of life and our culture? How would this change the world?

One of the great takeaways from our Wikicclesia gathering last Saturday was hearing people from different walks of the Christ-life sharing what they see God doing on their journey. It was great to see lots of people I knew and some I had never met before describing a similar story to my own. It means that God’s is working sovereignly, above and beyond what us humans can coordinate, to pull his Church together.

We got to hear the story of Agent B, something I always love hearing. One of the ways he described what it is like following Jesus in his life was the image of “surfing”. I’ll loosely paraphrase:

“Listening to Jesus and living this life is a lot like surfing the waves. You don’t always know when the conditions are going to be just right for that perfect day of surf, so you always have to be ready and waiting. Keeping your eye on the horizon, watching weather patterns and hoping that the planets throughout the whole universe will perfectly align just so you can have a day out in the water. If you wait too long to respond, even 10 minutes, you could miss the opportunity.”

This was a watershed moment for me. Over the last 2 years, my own prayer life has been honed to a basic assumption that Jesus does care about me and actually reveals things to me when I listen to him. And what B described was the need not only to be intentional about listening, but also be just as intentional on diligently following through with action.

“Those who hear my words and put them into practice is like a man who builds his house on solid rock.” ( or in this case…’is like a bodacious surfer-dude’)

Sometimes I feel like I hear from Him, but I just add it to my to-do list and never get around to it. I see the waves are perfect, but I keep my surfboard polished and dry.

I’m ready to play in the waters.

There has been a new shift in many of the conversations I’ve been having with leaders in the “simple church” circles. And the latest podcast from The God Journey focuses keenly on this topic as well. Its the notion of bringing “agendas” to Christian gatherings - most of those I’ve talked with and listened to are pretty against doing something like this, calling instead for a simple “family life” orientation.

What does that look like? Instead of someone coming prepared with a lesson, another person ready to lead a prayer and some songs, or what have you, meetings are simply a hang out time for Christ-followers. Basically a place to share a meal and engage in conversation.

Many of those who are of this persuasion find it maddening to show up at a gathering expecting it just to be an agenda-less, family-style gathering, only to become frustrated when they find someone else taking the reins and steering the meeting into a Bible Study or a personal rant they feel God has called them to share.

I personally find the “agenda-less” philosophy of living as a church hard to swallow. In many ways I think there have been several in the family of faith I’m a part of who have left because we have leaned toward an “agenda-less” gathering. We used to volunteer to facilitate the prayer, praise, and Word times the week before, and come prepared with something to share. As we moved on we stopped doing that, and some thought that we just weren’t doing anything when we came together.  In some ways I agree with them.  It seems that (at least in my experience) when you go too long without an agenda, your group devolves into a social club, or just a time to gossip and watch movies.

Last Sunday our network had a Father’s Day Celebration at one of our elders’ homes. It was a 2 hour pool party with a cookout, followed by a time of worship and sharing. It was absolutely touching to see the elderly sitting on the floor with the children playing with blocks and praising the Lord in common song. It was also great to share in communion that someone passed around and prayed for, and others shared how Christ was working in their lives. Simple, profound.

It didn’t feel like anyone had an agenda - although there were people who had things they felt they needed to share.

Maybe there is a third way.

There are certain times when a certain “agenda” needs to be addressed in a community. We certainly see Paul with agendas - routing out sin, establishing leaders, focusing on Christ’s death and resurrection as the centrality of the Gospel and the Church. But there are times when gatherings should just be a party; a relaxed, informal gathering of believers who come to hang out. Maybe the key to it all is like riding the waves (a great image from my buddy B).

We’ve got to take the pressure off the “meeting time”. When we focus more on life in the Body than on seeing “God show up” in a 2 hour time slot, we’ll see him appear all week long. We’ll have the chance (like we did last Sunday) to bring the words and songs and “agendas” GOD has given us, and everyone will feel his presence when we gather in Jesus’ name.

This means meeting more than once a week at the same time, and it also means not meeting every single week. It is the ebb and flow of relationship, and it is also learning that our “church” does not have a membership list - we ARE the Church with each other and the whole world. It means leaning not on our own understanding, but on God’s wisdom for what we need to be doing next.

Listening to Jesus, doing what he says, and finding LIFE together as God’s family. A great tag line for the Church, don’t you think?