First Church of...Vanilla Ice?
So, here's the first thing I heard today on my morning prayer walk:
“Too many churches have adopted the theology of MC Hammer when they’re invited to be Vanilla Ice.”
"Umm, I'm sorry, God...What???" I was fairly certain Jesus wasn't calling me to pull my parachute pants out of the attic or to go to the barber and get a sick high-top fade. I was also well aware God wasn't disparaging my childhood rap hero, the one and only Stanley Kirk Burrell (known better as simply "Hammer"), who has -- at least to my knowledge -- turned his life upward in radical fashion. Please Hammer, don't hurt 'em.
So, what was I to do with this bizarre picture in the first moments I came to fix my gaze on my Savior? First, I was reminded that our Jesus doesn't like to stay in the stained glass "churchy" boxes we try to keep him in. In him wanting to bring new revelation and hope to my heart, he didn't beckon the landscapes of Martin Luther and the Reformation or Mother Teresa and the children of Calcutta. He made a bee-line right to the holy ground of early 1990's rap. And as I was silent, this is what unfolded...
The “MC Hammer” church believes its’ sole job is to tell the world “U Can’t Touch This.”
Can’t watch this.
Can’t say that.
Can’t ask this.
Can’t do that.
While it is clear some things lead to life and some to death, and that we need to be a people inviting the world to choose LIFE, this theology is fixated on limitations and boundaries, satisfied to merely tell the world all it is against, rather than WHO they are for. They have convictions, but no "Incarnational Follow Through" to be "WITH" those they preach "AT."
They have convictions, but no “Incarnational Follow Through” to be “WITH” those they preach “AT.”
The “Vanilla Ice” church “Stops, Collaborates, and Listens.”
Ha! That’s good!
She is a church who Stops:
Stops striving.
Stops worrying.
Stops confusing the Gospel with the American Dream.
Stops projecting moral superiority in the direction of those with whom she does not agree.
She Collaborates:
A church of multi-faceted glory who elevates and equips ALL, believing that it is through OUR diversity we best reflect all of the facets of His!
She collaborates with Women. Children. Every Tribe and Tongue and Nation and Skin Color and Socio-economic Status and Checkered Past.
She invites to the table:
The Lost
The Least
The Last
The Lonely
The Lepers
A global brotherhood and sisterhood who chooses to actually SEE her neighbor, and to love them all just as herself.
She Listens:
A church marked by intimacy before her Father, unwilling to leave the land of abiding for man-made ‘holiness plans’ that keep striving to arrive somewhere the Cross already delivered us to for FREE!
A church known more for her Insistent Attentiveness to the Father’s voice than her Impressive Activity.
More known for her all consuming Passion for Him than her Programs. A church so enamored by who she is FOR, and who she is WITH, and who she is IN that she freely invites the whole world to join her!
A church so enamored by who she is FOR, and who she is WITH, and who she is IN that she freely invites the whole world to join her!
My Jesus can paint some funny pictures sometimes, but what a profound perspective. Here I am today, Lord.
I’ll Stop.
I’ll Collaborate.
I’m Listening.
