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In part two of insights gleaned from Sundays in America:  A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith by Suzanne Strempek Shea, she summarizes her quest as such:

“What I have observed in this past year behind all those closed doors and beneath all those ceilings were faiths that looped down lanes of love, or trod the tired trail of blandness, or dwelled on demons, damnation, and discrimination.  The frequency with which I saw the third route chosen by churches that also called themselves houses of a loving God was disturbing, and again and again made the case for the many engaging in some form of the pilgrimage I’ve made in the past year.  And not just as a tour. They’re looking for a new spiritual home.”

She also spoke of how similar most of the worship services were, regardless of denomination or size. There was some music, some prayer, some type of message/sermon.  Makes you wonder about all these churches that promise “we’re different, not like other churches, new type of doing church, etc.”  Even contemporary churches have a basic format:  branded children’s ministry (Kid’sZone, etc), “come as you are,” “relevant message/teaching,” contemporary music, and the like.

“I don’t know what the others are finding in their travels, but the past year has distilled for me the qualities I’d need in a new church home:  a community that welcomed me warmly, didn’t give a whit about my politics or lifestyle, gave tons of whits about the social justice needs locally and beyond, contained little to no hierarchy, allowed congregants a say in decisions large and small, offered a spiritual message inspired by love rather than by fear, and did all this in an art-filled space that rang with awesome music.”

Does such a church exist?  No hierarchy rules out mainline denominations, it would seem. Congregational say in decisions means probably a smaller church.  Art-filled space with awesome music (notice she didn’t say what style, just awesome music) is wide open. Not caring about personal politics or lifestyle would seem to lean away from evangelical or fundamentalist and more toward moderates.  Spiritual message inspired by love not fear is wide open.  Social justice/mission local and beyond is wide open.  Is there a small to medium, non-denominational church that appreciates art, produces awesome music, lives as a welcoming community which cares for those close and far away and preaches love and acceptance in an apolitical manner?

Read an intriguing book recently, Sundays in America:  A yearlong road trip in search of Christian faith, by Suzanne Stremper Shea

She visited 50 churches all over the nation, different sizes and denominations, worship styles and theology, liberal, moderate conservative, orthodox, contemporary, traditional, mainline and independent, famous pastors and unknowns.  A couple of quotes below about two megachurches she visited:

“I guess I don’t need a coffee shop. A bookstore. Five styles of worship. I don’t care if the pastor tithes 99.9% or wears his pajamas. I just want the experience to hit home intimately. And maybe that’s a different thing for everybody. For me, it was not found here (Saddleback).”

“And while I fall into the camp that’s heard enough about the fires of hell, I like my contemporary sermons to contain at least a nod to God. To suggest how we might consider him in our daily struggles, ponder how he’s working in our lives. I’m all for self-help information, but this (sermon about weight loss tips) was too much about that self when there’s a whole world of problems out there to discuss.  I find Lakewood (Joel Olsteen’s church)not much like a church at all. But maybe that’s just me.”

Having never visited either of those churches myself, I can’t really comment, but what about her perspective and insights?

I finally was able to see U2 in concert.  I could have seen them 20 years ago on the Joshua Tree tour for about $50 in Dallas, but I was a poor student at the time and couldn’t pull it off.

After joining the fan club to get pre-sale access and shelling out ticketmaster fees and the like and so forth, I finally got to see them.  I was most pleased and had a great time.  Their 360 stage is something funky for sure but provided great sight lines from where I was.

Partial set list (not in order and missing some songs, but gives you a flavor)

Boots/ Mysterious Ways/Beautiful Day/Stand By Me/Where the Streets Have No name/ Stuck in  Moment (with a sweet tenor solo by Edge)/ Sunday Bloody Sunday segue into People Get Ready/Elevation/ New Years Day/ Vertigo/ Walk On

Encore - One…into Amazing Grace….Where the Streets Have No Name

Awesome.

Thought about going to heaven lately?   Some people do.   Others, as of late, have focused less on the teaching/preaching/presenting of the Gospel as a get-out-of-hell/get-to-go-to-heaven card, and more on what Jesus can do in us and through us right now.  For many years, it seems, Christians have focused on the destination, instead of the process or goal of the Christian life.

A quote from Todd Hunter again:

“In our story, heaven is not the goal; it’s the destination.  We’re going to reign with God forever in the renewed heaven and renewed earth.  That’s our destination. But the goal of Christianity is spiritual transformation into Christlikeness.   If my dream of playing baseball had come true, I wouldn’t have called my dad and said, ‘I’m going to New York.’ No, I would have said, ‘I got drafted by the Yankees.’  New York is not the goal. It’s simply the destination.”

Todd Hunter, paraphrasing Eugene Peterson, in a recent issue of Christianity Today, Sept 2009, pg 68.

“Eugene says that if you genuinely think Christianity is a story about going to heaven when you die, it is no accident that fostering discipleship is like pulling teeth.  If we recast the gospel as something that gives us life, not just a secure death, then discipleship and mission become normative because they become more intuitive.”

Exactly!