No Chains on Me…

So my thoughts have been requested on the chapel message given Monday by our President Dr Brown on the topic of Postmodernism and the Emergent Church. First, I hafta direct your thoughts to my dear friend and DC leader, Derek Hostetter who’s comments I really respect and agree with.

And now here goes.

I was fairly disappointed by the chapel message, but not unexpectedly so. I actually wanted to skip chapel Monday since I was not feeling very well, but on hearing that the topic was what it was, I decided I needed to be there. Before I really get into why, however, I have to say that I still respect Dr. Brown a great deal and am proud that he and this administration are graciously taking so much flack for what they are choosing to do. I wouldn’t want his job in any way right now as he tries to bridge old and new at this very difficult and controversial time. I’ve tried to encourage him the best I can and would ask anyone reading this to do the same rather than criticize him. Too many people are already doing that and it has to be really rough on him and his family as his name and that of the University get dragged through the mud by everyone and their second cousin…

So with that said, I understand why Dr. Brown laid down the lines where he did, what with the time constraints he had and peace he is trying to keep. Where I was fairly disappointed in was the fact that what he did say about the topics at hand was a pretty unfair and and not a valuable or accurate representation of what Postmodernism presents. The arguments he presented to the student body (and an external audience as well) about the Emergent Church were also pretty pointed and negatively focused rather than allowing it validity in its views and criticisms. And I am frustrated due to the fact that now a large number of my fellow students are going to begin or continue to think that Postmodernism and the Emergent church = BAD. What do I do with that when I agree with both to a large degree? Is my side of the story never to be allowed some semblance of validity?

What’s more is that now the whole “Truth and Certainty” argument comes back up and the student body begins to fight within itself again, which I hate!! This is evidenced, oddly enough, by “The Rock,” the one item allowed on campus for graffiti and a frequent location for controversial statements. The day of the chapel, someone wrote something about Postmodernists being the “wolves among sheep” and “postmodernism promotes doubt and thus sin” and other students began to react very strongly for or against that kind of thing, partly because it is so public, and this serves only to divide brothers and sisters. Its heartbreaking to see that happen here, as a representation of what has happened in the Christian world at large. And so everything again begins to go horribly awry and peace, humility, and love are thrown out the window once again and once again, I’m stuck on a campus where everything becomes horribly shallow and not focused on Jesus and the unity he bought for us. Sometimes I hate it here so much…

And even with all this talk, Cedarville is nowhere near what its opponents try to say it is. It is very much still a Protestant, Evangelical, Conservative university, which is okay, in my opinion, as much as I may not be inside of that mindset. Its probably what is needed at this University right now and I’m not saying its a wrong view, its just not the view I’ve chosen to become a part of. What people need to get over is saying that because you or I disagree with something, we are saying it is sin. Disagreement is not, or I suppose should not be condemnation. And support, or at least evaluation, of something controversial is not, or should not be viewed as sinful! People are far too opposed to change and to evaluation of what they believe in circles like this one, and I wonder, what happens when you hold so tightly onto things that are wrong? Francis Chan says we should never assume that we are the good soil mentioned in Matt 13. We should be always evaluating what we believe, always asking the Spirit to fill us and lead us into living the way God defines godliness, however that may be.

So here I am, wanting so badly to be heard as a valid point of view. Sometimes I get the chance, in smaller circles. Other times, I get the full force of anger, fear and judgement. Sometimes I wish things were a lot simpler than they seem to become. Perhaps I really shouldn’t care. I suppose the one thought I want to come down to is this: Despite all the controversy at this University and in the world around me, how much I may disagree with people or how much other people may disagree with me, I want to come down to what Paul says in what is still fast becoming a favorite book of mine:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

I am praying that my only goal in any of this is to show Jesus Christ more powerfully in my life, myself more humble, the Spirit more filling, and God more glorified. May God forbid that I ever see myself or try to become any more than I am: A wretched sinner, saved by Jesus, who died to set this broken, prideful, and marred soul free from sin, for the purpose of living for His purpose and glory because of His life in me. For if I am truly dead to self, and purchased as a slave of Christ, I should do nothing else.

God help me….