I wonder if I can read this while I speed.

I can't believe this is real. It can be found at book stores in the bible cover section.

Sometimes we like to mix our religion with our politics. I recall a similar item during the bush administration. Perhaps the makers bank on people's merging of faith and politics.

Disclaimer: I like to goof on things; even things I do and am a part of.

I've often accused the church of using language at no one else understands. We have phrases, terminology, and inflections that convey meaning to a very small group of people.

Aware of that, we have tried to use different language to convey meaning while accidentally forming a new version of the thing we disapproved. There are words we have forsaken like for example, the word forsaken. Some because just hate using the old language. Others times the old language has a negative meaning for us.

So here is my list of words we intentionally have quit using, and the words we have replaced them with:

We no longer have church services. That sounds like work.
Now we have gatherings.

We used to be in a walk with God. Now we're on a journey

We don't go to church. We are the church and the church is everywhere. We do belong to Communities. Our communities like to serve but we'll probably say that we are engaging something.

The world has been replaced by the culture. Gone are the days of staying away from this ol world. We now recognize that we have to engage the culture.

Sometimes we don't have our own building and we meet wherever we can. There is no church house but that is okay, twe are into creating space for people. Not necessarily a physical place, but a space to communicate.

Since everyone with a bible and a bad haircut have claimed to be called, we like to say we are compelled to do something. I am compelled to start this new community so that we can gather to provide a space to engage the culture and help them in their journey.

Wow that last one was forced.

I recently saw Brian McLaren at a conference. Among other things he told us that it is time to start constructing. For a long while we have been deconstructing the church. It has been happening weather the one doing the deconstructing was emerging, reading some Calvin, or hanging at a seminary somewhere becoming more confused.

It has been a fun bit. I've been all over the place. At one point I did not think anything was all that different, I just understood it better. Then I was really able to embrace several points of Calvinism. When I could not resolved some of the harsher points I found myself embracing grace and peace. So my personal deconstruction turned out to be a mashup of theologies enhanced by sociology, science, and psychology.

For the better part of my adult life I have been deconstructing the church. I wanted to know what really mattered; what we invented; what the church was really about.

It has largely been a study of language and culture; a blending of theological ideas and real world experiences with a touch of cynicism a lot of coffee. There have been many conversations and ideas. I needed the freedom and permission to move into and out of these ideas. I had to try on some things and decide on what I wanted to keep.

I have not been able to subscribe to one single school of thought. I love that. Some call it indecisive. I say that I refuse to play by those rules.

So, here is the beginning of my reconstruction. Some of the language is old, but has a new definition in my mind.

Disclaimer: many things here are left unsaid either because i have not finished thinking it through or i am not interested in including it here.

God is sovereign.
That simple statement has given me so much freedom. Things that I have questions about like atonement, grace, law, how to live, how to worship, ideas about the rapture, and many much more has so much less pressure when I start with the idea that God gets to do things however he wants to do them. Sure it is simplistic, but subjects need good jumping off points. Saying that God gets to do things his way means that all of the others things I am trying to figure out have an answer. I may not ever understand them all, although i will always try, and this Kingdom of will be there in control and include me.

The Bible is incomplete.
These texts do not tell the whole story. There are references to things we do not understand and cannot know with certainty. It is written to people who understand what is going on around them in a similar we have inside jokes today. Inside jokes only make sense to people in the know. Scripture is similar. Somehow we have to square with that; that everything there is not knowable, but that is okay because God is sovereign. God has e responsibility of our salvation and his Kingdom, not the Bible.

Sin messed up our head.
Sin is bigger than the personal right and wrong checklists we never are able to live by. Sin has also damaged our view of the world and the love of the father. I believe sin exists on a societal level; that sinfulness is so engrained in our lives and our experiences that we cannot actually see it or realize it. We support shady governments and corporations that hurt millions and we are unaware. We are so involved in the sin that we cannot possibly see. We need grace for that. That does not mean we should not behave ourselves; personal behavior is a subject better suited in the Kingdom of God section.

The Kingdom of God.
This Kingdom is big and for everybody. It is a kingdom without walls and it exists right now. In this point of history our job to love, include and help people around us. Kingdom living is the recognition that God loves us, has reconciled us, and our charge is to invite and take care of each other.

These are the ideas I am willing to use use in the reconstruction. Like I said earlier, there is much left unsaid, but these are building blocks. More may be added later. And there is something nice about simple. I could give a scriptural reference for every stanza I write,but would you look it up? Probably not; it would exist as a way to show either my knowledge of scripture or my capability to use a concordance.

So I reconstruct from these ideas. And I reserve the right to change my mind later.

Hey. At least it is a fun approach to manipulating scripture.

We will position ourselves as movement leaders
Train our leadership to be web thinkers
We will appreciate internet life and potential
We will listen to digital natives
We will connect people to what matters to them
We will give mission away
We will tap movements outside of us.
I will connect people directly
We will emulate and innovate
We’ll move at web speed.

@philShepard and @existentialpunk

Location:Massachusetts Ave NW,Washington,United States