Cult of the Contemporary

'History has a wonderful way of freeing us from the cult of the contemporary.' - Richard J. Foster

He goes on to remind us that, 'we are not the only ones [saints, Christians, disciples] who have sought to live in faithful conformity to His Word.' How refreshing.

As I sit at my dining room table, curtains drawn, glare from the snow outside brightening the gray walls, with this quote in mind I am incredibly small. There are three large church buildings, each of them at least 100 years old within view from my home. I am not the first believer to seek communion with Creator God. Nor am I the first to seek true conformity to His divine Word (Christ).

I am neither the first nor the last.
I am neither the most faithful nor the least.
I have not fully realized the Spirits giftings within and about me.
I understand some key aspects of the heart of Christ, yet continue to grasp for more.
I am unknown by most in this town yet entirely known by Christ.

There is nothing new under the sun and I am not ushering it in either (thanks King Soly).

The contemporary is a wonderful thing. By contemporary I simply mean that the Church is yet active and alive and moving here and now in honor and glory to God. Yet in these contemporary movements it's easy for me to forget that millions of faithful men and women have gone before seeking. They've come finding. They've come and gone having been reconciled to their Creator and so fostered space for others to be reconciled as well - in both deserts and cathedrals.

It's easy to forget that how we are currently experiencing the contemporary church is not the end of all experiences and expressions.

Paul reminds Titus to hold fast to the Message that was uttered In The Beginning, the same One that he heard upon the Beginning of his own New Birth into Kingdom life. Paul continued to lay out character traits of both the leaders of and the members of the Body of Christ without necessarily prescribing how the Church was to gather (though where he did get close in his letter to the Corinthians out gatherings today probably display little resemblance...)

Can we free ourselves from the 'cult of the contemporary' without picking up the burdens of ancient and useless traditions?

It's refreshing to realize how little my role is in the Kingdom on a universal scale, and meanwhile discern how large it is on an eternal scale. Both views surpass whatever contemporary movement is taking place.

Read Fosters Freedom of Simplicity and Paul's Letter to Titus.

Now, now, now...

'Now, now, now, now, now think about it like this...'

It seems this is what Jesus is saying during much of His three and a half year teaching and touring ministry in the Middle-East. Redefining, clarifying, simplifying and reconciling new realities based on ancient truths about Himself.

The Beatitudes - clarifying the blessed.

Initiating the 'born-again' - this is completely out-of-the-current-box.

Dying to the flesh in order to gain eternal life - completely turning the wisdom of man upside down here.

Oaths, divorce, revenge, adultery and the mind, idolatry and the heart, sabbath and law and...grace.

It's as if Jesus was saying to Israel, 'Now, now, now, now, now think about YHVH this way now.'

The Church must continue in Jesus' footsteps saying, 'Now, now, now...'; readdressing, according to His New Covenant, our habitual attitudes toward our 21'st century version of Christianity.

As a friend always notes, 'be cautious when dealing with ancient boundary stones,' I would echo that most of them need not be removed. Often we simply need to re-examine why they were put there in the first place without altering Jesus' precepts.
'Now, now, now, now, now think about it like this...'

Read Matthews Gospel for a refresher course on thinking anew.

Layers

In the book Primal, Batterson asks what Christian traditions you and I adhere to that are simply abiblical. Neither prescribed nor described in Scripture but simply done because it's how Christianity has evolved over time.

How many layers of tradition do you and I subscribe to as if they're central to Jesus' Truth? Doctrines that matter eternally compared to those that simply provide direction for a body in a particular season of faith and many times develop into bylaws and ultimately dividers.

Why do you believe what you believe about Jesus and the Kingdom you're called partner in with the Body?

Are your spiritual parameters set by Scripture or Denomination? Truth or Tradition? Jesus or you?