Everything Must Change: Hope Happens
There is much to dismantle, much to overturn, much to rebuild, much to imagine and create and there are many seeds to be sown and grown.
Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren
With those words, Brian McLaren ends the introductory chapter of his book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. And I must admit, I find those words just a bit inspiring. The emerging church has been about the business of dismantling some one the self-serving concretions of Christianity that came with its establishment as one of the major centers of power in society. There’s been a lot of deconstructing, a lot of overturning.
But there hasn’t been as much rebuilding, imagining and creating as I might hope. Pockets of creative re-imagination can be found here and there, especially within the last decade, but it’s a process that is only beigning and I have hopes that McLaren’s book will carry that reimgining forward in regard to the global crises facing our world. Constructive criticism has it’s place, but in the emerging church there are times it seems like there is far too much criticism and not much construction. I suppose that too is part of the everything that must change.
In that same concluding paragraph McClaren suggests an optimal way of reading his book: “slowly and thoughtfully . . . with some friends if possible.” Truth be told, my first time through the book was none of the above. But recently a colleague of mine, Paul Ward, invited the Nazarene youth pastors in our area to read the book together. He even set up a blog where we can discuss what we read.
And so I’m embarking on my second journey through these pages – a little more slowly, a little more thoughtfully, and this time with some friends along for the ride. I’d like to invite you to be among those friends. I’ll be posting my reactions to the reading both here and on the Anderson Zone Youth Pastor’s blog. Feel free to read along and jump into the discussion in the comments below. Let’s do McLaren proud and create a little conversation.
Now to summarize . . .
