Without intending to, my last couple of posts continued my reflection on G. K. Chesterton’s idea of Christianity as a “practical romance.” While I intended to keep musing on what kind of church we need to be to welcome those who are “armed to the teeth and talking by signs”, who think they are trying to discover something new, but only arriving back home again, I instead stumbled upon two examples (one real and one imagined) of those very romantic adventurers. For who better to represent the Christian magi today, those who are seeking a new world of faith, but keep (sadly?) stumbling back into the “old world” than Bono and Neo?
So, to return to the question that I ended my last post: What do we do to make the church more Bono-Neo friendly?
That’s where I’ll head for the next few posts, but I have to start with this caveat: I know that this is the wrong question. The right question for the church is always first and foremost: How do we make the church a more faithful representative of God on earth? Our efforts and musing must be first, for God’s sake, not the seeker. For revealing Christ, not being relevant. But, the church is always called to practice hospitality and in that way we must keep both outsiders and journeying friends in mind.
So, perhaps the first thing those of us who are part of ordinary churches need to do in order to be helpful to the Bonos and Neos of the world is to be aware of how disappointing we are. We are not nearly as exciting as prophetic minded people wish we were. So many of them are simply looking for a gathering of like-minded adventurers. But what they get instead is a gathering that God brought together by grace alone. Which means that the church, if it is God’s church, will always make us a bit miserable. (More on that tomorrow).
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