Sometimes I worry about Zombies.

In the film 28 days Later, a bike messenger  named Jim awakens in a coma.  When he comes out of the coma, the hospital is empty. No doctors. No nurses. No patients. Nothing.

Jim stumbles out of the hospital into a London that has been decimated.  The buildings are all still standing but there are no signs of life.  No signs of life.  Using imagery from 9-11, there are flyers posted everywhere; family members searching for the lost.

He walks the eerily abandoned streets of London until he finds a church.

In postapocalyptic London, perhaps the church will provide some answers? He walks into the sanctuary only to find a dead and rotting congregation.

A few heads pop up and then messenger is approached by a pastor vicar.  Something is not right though.

The vicar is a zombie! Jim punches him in the mouth (“sorry about that father”) and then runs for his life.  The pastor and fifteen other zombies from the church chase after him.

We showed this clip at Lockerbie Central United Methodist last night.    And had a conversation about congregations that act like zombies.

As our church has studied the book of Job this past month, we have looked at creativity and suffering.  Job might not provide us with answers about why we suffer, but the work does tell us some about how people have responded to suffering.  On this night, we looked at what happens when the church is not responding [creatively] to suffering but is actually causing more suffering.

The Zombie thread came from a blog post called “Zombie Congregations” that was posted in February. I wrote a post earlier this year called “Zombie United Methodist Church” about my experience at Lockerbie Central UMC as we struggled to transform the church.  Anyways,  the blogger, UMC pastor Dan Dick, writes

New people threaten the status quo. Zombies hang out together, and they look and act very much alike.  They only attack those who are different (i.e., those filled with life, energy, and imagination).  Many of our congregations say “we want new people” when they really mean is “we want more people exactly like us.”

It was an interesting conversation last night.  How do we make sure that we are creatively responding to suffering and not creating suffering?

Filed under: Christians, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, Revised Common Lectionary, church, emergent church, film , 28 days later, bike messenger, church, church scene, congregation, creativity and suffering, Dan Dick, Job, lockerbie central united methodist, london, methodist, suffering, united methodist, zombie churches, zombie congregations, zombies

The Societal Machine and King Solomon

At Lockerbie Central United Methodist, we have been going through the story of King David and his family.  This story concludes next week.

In the above video from the Everything Must Change tour and Work of the People, Brian Mclaren states that civilization is driven by the need for prosperity ,security, and equity. He calls this the “societal machine.”

Though words like “prosperity” and “security” might have negative connotations (sounds like a right-wing or even fascist campaign slogan), a good society makes sure that all people have access to these realities.

This week in the Hebrew Bible part of the Revised Common Lectionary (11th Sunday after Pentecost), King David dies after forty years on the throne and his son Solomon replaces him.  It is during this context that Solomon tells God:

3:9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

3:10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

This should be a good sign for the people of Israel; an opportunity for people to have access to genuine prosperity, equity, and security.

It turns out that Solomon falls down the deep pit that almost consumed his father. Deuteronomy 17 warns:

6But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Moses did not leave Egypt so that his ancestors would live under a Hebrew Pharoah in the promised land.  While David struggled with this, Solomon is destroyed by it.  He acquires great wealth and power at the expense of the people and he is the last King to rule over a united Judah and Israel.

This struggle between power for oneself and creating a just society is a central conversation in the bible.  Mclaren nails it when he talks about a good society being one that offers genuine and authentic security, prosperity, and equity.  Its one that all kings struggle with and Solomon’s decision to turn away from his God granted ability to “discern good from evil” has since become an an age old crisis.

Filed under: Christians, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, Revised Common Lectionary, after pentecost, bible, economy, emergent church , 11th Sunday after pentecost, brian mclaren, common time, David, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 17, eleventh sunday after pentecost, emergent church, emerging church, equity, everything must change, good and evil, israel, King David, King Solomon, pentecost, Pharaoh, prosperity, RCL, Revised Common Lectionary, security, societal machine, Solomon, wisdom, work of the people, year b

Absalom, Absalom

Lockerbie Central United Methodist uses the Revised Common Lectionary, the three year cycle of texts that takes us and countless other churches through the scriptures.  This summer we have spent quite a bit of time on the story of King David.  The story is perhaps the most important in the Hebrew bible (if there can be such a category). Though the story of King David is nearly 3,000 year old it still speaks powerfully to the human condition.

On Sunday, we spent most of our time on the story of Absalom, the second son of King David.  Of David’s children, Absalom is most like his father.  Absalom is passionate, has a strong sense of right and wrong (though David’s morality has become quite corrupted), a strong popular following and is politically ambitious. We showed the above clip from the 1985 Richard Gere movie King David.

Like all good father-son conflicts, the split and rivalry between Absalom and David has unintended consequences.   Absalom grows so powerful and popular that he actually forces his King-father out of Jerusalem but then  is ultimately outwitted and outmaneuvered on the battlefield by David’s shrewdest and most ruthless advisers, Joab.  Though David urges his advisors to take it easy on his wayward son, David’s army spares no mercy on Absalom and he is killed in battle.

Last night we talked much about the relationship between Absalom and King David.  Some important themes came out of the discussion.   The idea of children paying for the sins of their parents, the chaos of war (trying to win a war is like trying to win an earthquake), the political/military/theology leadership of David versus the nonviolent/turn the other cheek model of Jesus and Paul, what happens when ambition gets in the way of getting right with God, etc.

We concluded the night with a moment of silence and then listening to Brand New Shadows’ song Absalom

ABSALOM

Absalom, oh Absalom
Why do you hurt me so
Wayward son, the wars you’ve won
Leave me without a home
This is not the story I envisioned for my boy
My baby Absalom

Oh my child, my darling child
How did it come to this
With armies at the ready
And with fury in your fists
No, this is not the life I saw
The day I first laid eyes upon you
Absalom

I knew I’d get what I deserve
But never thought
That it would hurt you badly, son
Can’t you see, you’ve turned out just like me

Though you run, my Salem son
I wait for your return
The battle’s far from over
But the lesson I have learned
I would gladly give my blood
To right the wrongs I’ve done to you
My Absalom

I knew I’d get what I deserve
But never thought
That it would hurt you badly, son
Can’t you see, you’ve turned out just like me

Filed under: Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, Revised Common Lectionary, emergent church , 10th Sunday after Pentecost, Absalom, bible, Brand New Shadows, David, earthquake, emergent worship, father-son conflict, Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem, jesus, Joab, King David, lockerbie central, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, nonviolence, Old Testament, Paul, Revised Common Lectionary, Richard Gere, social justice, turn the other cheek, unintended consequences, war, worship, year b