Breaking out of the box

We’re back in Canada again, and the adventure of Europe/Africa travel is over for a while. As for our trip to Italy; it was good. It’s a lovely country, the people are exuberant, and the sites are often spectacular. However we soon became tired of the long line-ups, the busyness of the cities, the expense of being a tourist.

Our best time was in the hill town of Orvieto where we shopped at the local butcher, baker and small grocer, and made meals to eat on our terrace with its stunning view over the Umbrian countryside. We felt like locals. When we go back, (or if we travel one day to France as we hope to), we will follow this pattern – staying in a home at or near a small town, renting a car and traveling to the surrounding villages, with the occasional day trip to the city.

It has been hard to start to write again. We've quickly become “busy”, with some home improvements (to a small and inexpensive condo we bought just before we left for Slovakia), some visiting, shopping for things we may not really need, watching a little TV, the odd video – all things we didn’t do in Europe and really didn’t miss that much. We had so much more time for reading and writing. But this is North America now. This is what we do. Isn’t it?

I do have some things to explore over the next few weeks and write about. Firstly, I want to learn more about post-modernism. I hope this will help me understand what influences my thinking presently about things like church forms. As well I think that understanding the post-modern mind is necessary if we are to be relevant. While in Europe I was struck by how stylish, modern, and progressive it's younger people were. They are looking to the future and are not interested in institutions that are appparently irrelevant. Secondly, I am going to continue to read and think about new church models and experiment with churches that have modern mission at their root. John Ortberg, author of several books recently wrote a note in praise of Stories of Emergence, Moving From Absolute to Authentic. "God", he said, " never intended his people to have the answers to yesterday's questions." I think this is at the heart of my present journey, to discover for myself what the church should be doing and saying now.Already I'm learning. For instance, I was recently reminded that we have been invited to participate with God in a story that began with creation. It's real (abundant) life and it's way beyond memorizing the Four Spiritual Laws, the Roman Road, EE and all the other presentations and religious facts. It should be an exciting life! Yet we've settled for Sunday morning services, disciplined living and fellowship times. We're like the old saint pictured above, boxed and on display in a church in Lucca. We're in church all right, but we're dead or dying, trapped in boxes of religiosity, doctrine, old thinking, smugness - unwilling or unable to say "no" to the status quo. Well I'm not happy with the box I'm in.To be honest, I'm desperate and I'm breaking out. How about you?